Formation of the idea and legalization of the sovereignty of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic

Abstract

The aim of the article is to cover the process of formation of the idea and determine the stages of legalization of the sovereignty of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, and to prevent falsifi cation of history, mythmaking and manipulation of facts that are means of Russia’s information war against Ukraine. According to Jackson’s concept, sovereignty is an objective reality that does not require anyone’s approval, but involves its use as the basis of other state and legal phenomena. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that in October-November 1918 the sovereignty of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic (ZUNR) was legalized in the western Ukrainian lands that were part of Austria-Hungary, which was the result of development and self-determination of the Ukrainian people of Eastern Galicia. Transcarpathia. We can distinguish the main stages of the legalization of the sovereignty of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic: the fi rst - the conclusion of a secret Brest agreement of the Ukrainian Central Council with Austria-Hungary from February 9 (January 27), 1918; the second - the National Chamber on October 19, 1918 in Lviv, which proclaimed an independent Ukrainian state in the lands of Austria-Hungary; third – the transfer of all power by the representatives of the Austro-Hungarian government by the governors of Galicia to the Ukrainian National Council in accordance with the imperial manifesto of Charles I and the rules of international law; fourth - the adoption by the Ukrainian National Council at a meeting on November 13, 1918 of the Constitution of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic - «Temporary Basic Law on State Independence of the Ukrainian lands of the former Austro-Hungarian monarchy.» Key words: history of law, sovereignty, legalization of sovereignty, Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, people’s sovereignty, state sovereignty.