Belichenko O. Ukrainian legal thinking on judicial process (1800s – 1920s)

This dissertation focuses on a comprehensive scientific study on the Ukrainian legal thinking on judicial process within the chronological boundaries of the 1800s to 1920s. It covers the questions of law researchers’ views suitability and possible implementation in the development of the nowadays Ukrainian procedural law. There is analyzed the conceptual and categorical framework of the thesis. It has been found out that at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries a new branch of law was being formed whose subject of study was procedural law. As it has been pointed out, the experts in law began to take an interest in the theory of the judicial process in the 1960s. The notion of the judicial process is interpreted by the Ukrainian researchers in a twofold manner. In its wide sense it incorporates a complex of theoretical and practical knowledge and principles. In its narrow usage legal process is viewed as a jurisdictional activity which is regulated by the law. Meanwhile, most nowadays Ukrainian researchers are the adherents of the theory of the judicial process in its wide sense. The dissertation reveals the role of the first researchers of law born in Ukraine and their impact on the formation and further development of theoretical legal foundations of the Russian Empire. It has been ascertained that these famous researchers in law, in particular S. Desnyts’ky, M. Baludyans’ky, O. Kunitsyn, made a considerable contribution in the formation of the legal science with further implementation of its results in the development of law in general. It has been proved that the formation of the historical and legal thinking on the Ukrainian terrain at the beginning of the 19th century was influenced by the Tartu school of history and law. Scientific works of its representatives, in particular J. Evers and O. Reiz, became basic for the researchers of that time in their investigations of the genesis of the judicial process on the territory of Ukraine. It is due to the establishment of the school of history and law in Ukraine that the study of the judicial process began to advance. The author ascertains that further development of legal thinking on judicial process in the second half of the 19th century went on under the influence of sociopolitical and social and economic changes. This dissertation shows that the views on the judicial process evolved in close interrelation with the changes taking place in the field of procedural law and judiciary of that time. The author states that such famous scientists as R. Lashchenko, M. Chubaty and A. Yakovliv became the founders of the Ukrainian historical and legal science in diaspora and though their contribution in the development of the issues of the judicial process genesis in the 1920s was not of great importance, still their ideas had some influence on further investigations in the field of procedural law. It has been concluded that the Ukrainian legal thinking on the judicial process in the 1800s – 1920s is a significant contribution in the science of history and law and the lawyers of that time were among the first who laid firm foundation for its further development.