The Editing of Legal History Sources Referring to the Medieval and Early Modern Ukraine (1991-2012)

It was after a long period of the Soviet censorship and reprisals that, upon the gaining of independence and restoring intellectual freedom in their land, the Ukrainian legal historians entered a new era, particularly in the area of publication of normative acts of the medieval and modern epochs. Kyïv and Lviv became the centres in which the research on legal history was made and the editing of historical documents was taken up. Some editing being also made in Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, Odessa and Poltava. The editing taken up un that period may be divided into several thematic groups. These were: constitutional and legal history (the acts and documents referring to Galych-Volynian Duchy, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and particularly the Cossack State (Het’manshchyna) of the 17th through 18th centuries; social history (citizens of towns, peasants, nobles); history of the Church (particularly that of the Greek-Catholic Church); history of art and culture. Upon the end of the Soviet era the censorship and particular limitations were lifted, the number of publications considerably increased, the range of studied themes and research publications was broadened, the emphasis was laid on the publishing of comprehensive sets of normative acts. Among the negative tendencies in publishing legal sources one can indicate the absence of large projects which would cover the entire territory of Ukraine, the fact that the publications are not systematic, the occasional weakness of the standard of editing, its poor institutional framework and the absence of specialized journals.