Evolution of legal regulation of activity forms of members of representative bodies of local self-government in the Ukrainian lands within Austria-Hungary and pre-revolutionary Russia

Abstract

The article deals with historical and legal aspects of the normative regulation of the forms of activity of the representative bodies of local self-government and their members on the Ukrainian lands, which were part of Austria-Hungary and pre-revolutionary Russia. It is shown that during the 60-90s of the XIX century, there was an accumulation of experience in the normative consolidation of the legal status and organization of the work of local representative bodies, the formation of the main forms of their activity. Attention is drawn to the fact that in both empires the adoption of liberal legislation on local self-government led to the activation of local rule-making. The content of national and local acts regulating the forms of activity of representative bodies of the late XIX – early XX centuries is analyzed. In its modern form, local government developed in the nineteenth century. as a result of the victory of liberal-democratic reforms in the world's leading states. Therefore, consideration of the evolution of legal regulation of the forms of activity of deputies of domestic local representative bodies should begin in the 1860s, when in Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire, which at that time included Ukrainian lands, local government began almost simultaneously. The period of functioning of representative bodies of local self-government in the Ukrainian lands as a part of Austria-Hungary and pre-revolutionary Russia (1862-1917) should be considered as the first stage of evolution of forms of activity of deputies of local councils in modern Ukraine. This was the stage of initiating the normative consolidation and practice of implementing the forms of activity of the deputy corps of domestic representative bodies of local self-government.