VALUE OF MAGDEBURG RIGHT IN ORDER TO STRENGTHEN THE LOCAL SELF GOVERNANCE IN UKRAINE

Abstract

The article has actualized the national historical experience of the formation and development of local self-governance. The importance of the Magdeburg Law for the establishment of local democracy in the territory of Ukraine has been revealed.
It is determined that in the Ukrainian cities the principle of the Magdeburg law concerning the annual term of the membership in the city council was often not respected. Some councils were composed by the same persons even during ten years. Such abuse of power often caused riots of the angry citizens. However, such short-comings are not decisive for the general positive effects of the Magdeburg Law intro-duction in the Ukrainian cities. The approval of the Magdeburg Law, which contribut-ed to the formation of the tradition of decentralization of the state power in Ukraine. Elements of the Magdeburg Law were actively used in the military Cossack settle-ments. Subsequently, at the Hetmanate period of our history the Magdeburg Law was considered an important element of the "ancient rights" of the Ukrainian people. Therefore, it was widely used in the codification of the local legislation.
The Magdeburg Law is investigated as an important source of the develop-ment of the right system on the Ukrainian lands. Cities with the Magdeburg Law had the well-developed judicial system. Judicial functions were carried out by the mag-istrates and city councils. Civil cases at the magistrates' courts were examined by the councils headed by the burgomasters. The criminal cases were considered by the so-called lavas. Grave criminal cases (robbery, murder, arson, rape, assassina-tion) were considered by the city elder of the magistrates' councils. The city elder could consider any cases, if their parties were the city dwellers. The city courts held their meetings twice a week. Their decision could be appealed to the court of the second instance.
It has been revealed that understanding of the Magdeburg Law phenomenon helps to understand both theoretical foundations and practical aspects of the activi-ties of the local self-governance bodies in Ukraine at different stages of the histori-cal development. The Magdeburg Law had a significant impact on the consolidation of the city governments in Ukraine. Actualization of the positive and negative expe-rience of the Magdeburg Law implementation in Ukraine is very important in the context of the improvement of modern local self-governance bodies.