In the dissertation on the basis of the analysis of normative-legal acts operating on the Ukrainian territories which in the studied period were a part of the Russian empire, domestic and foreign scientific literature, archival documents and other written sources the normative-legal fixing of the Russian imperial policy on the Ukrainian lands during XVIII - early twentieth century).
The paper provides a theoretical generalization of the historical experience of normative and legal consolidation of Russian imperial policy in the Ukrainian lands (18th - early 20th centuries). The study of this important scientific problem provided an opportunity to substantiate the author's conceptual vision of the trend of the then spread of the legal traditions of the Moscow Empire in Ukraine.
The periodization of the development of normative and legal consolidation of the Russian imperial policy on the Ukrainian lands has been improved, where two stages have been singled out.
It is emphasized that since the middle of the XVII, and especially throughout the late XVIII century. the lands of the Left Bank of Ukraine underwent political and socio-economic transformations.
It was found that the implemented changes were aimed at creating an effective mechanism of a centralized absolutist state.
It is highlighted that the imperial policy was based on a new normative basis, which radically changed the status of Ukraine and relations in various spheres of state and legal life of the Ukrainian population.
The processes of activation during the eighteenth century have been studied. policies of seizure by the Russian Empire of territories belonging to other states.
It is shown that the main features of the national policy on the conquered territories during the eighteenth - early nineteenth century. there was a declaration of the lands of the conquered peoples as being in the supreme possession of the empire; enslavement of the then free population; granting benefits to the part of the local aristocracy that agreed to "loyalty".
It is confirmed that at the end of the eighteenth century. in the Ukrainian lands, which were under the control of Russia, completely dominated the social, administrative, legal, relations inherent in other parts of the empire.
It is emphasized that the state and legal policy of the Russian Empire in Ukraine during the second half of the XVIII - early XIX centuries. has undergone a significant evolution - from unification actions, in general, inherent in the legal nature of any empire, to openly discriminatory steps against Ukrainians, due to the chauvinistic orientation that accompanied the process of becoming a political Russian nation.
It was found that the policy aimed at removing the Ukrainian language from the cultural space also conditioned the cultural imperial policy, which from the 80s took on the character of leveling the cultural differences between Ukrainians and Russians. However, such aspects were guided only by bylaws. In addition, contradictory and inconsistent.
It is substantiated that the imperial religious policy was based on anomalous, illegal principles of non-recognition of the right to religious self-determination, utilitarian use of religion, transformation of the church into an instrument of secular politics.
It is proved that the legal regulation of the activities of political parties has gone from the complete denial of their right to exist to legalization under the influence of the First Russian Revolution. Moreover, regardless of the general direction of state policy, the views of some experts of the imperial secret services, who proposed to distinguish opposition movements from revolutionary ones, Ukrainian parties have always been considered among the most dangerous to the integrity of the state, regardless of their actual or declared purpose.
