Approval of the Constitution of Czechoslovakia in 1920 and the evolution of the constitutional and legal status of Podkarpatska Rus as part of the republic

Abstract

The article considers the constitutional and legal status of Subcarpathian Russia under the Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic of February 29, 1920. Special attention is paid to the legal regulation of the highest state authorities of Czechoslovakia, as well as the position of national minorities in the country. Certainly, the First World War destroyed the political system and borders in Europe, which led to the creation of independent states, including Czechoslovakia. The newly created state faced a number of important tasks. The issues of state building, political system and establishing harmonious interethnic interaction between citizens were of paramount importance. Stabilization of the internal situation and success in the international arena were ensured by the adoption of a basic law - the constitution. After all, the constitution is the highest law of the country, which regulates the most important political and legal relations in it, establishes the basic provisions of law and order.
 It was established that the problem of Subcarpathian Russia was properly and in detail covered in the Constitution, although the terms of the Small Saint-Germain Peace Treaty on the "territory of the South Carpathian Ruthenians" did not require it. Nevertheless, both Czechoslovak specialists in state and legal issues and politicians of the republic considered it not only necessary but also necessary, primarily for state reasons, to fix the problem of the eastern province of the republic, Subcarpathian Russia, in the Constitution. Such a fixation, they believed, would demonstrate the sovereign right of the Czechoslovak Republic to the territory of Subcarpathian Russia, the constitutional legality of the region's membership in the Czechoslovak state. Demonstration of this right only by a separate law on the autonomy of Subcarpathian Russia would be insufficient, it would even feel some temporary solution to the problem.