Systematization of Ukrainian customary law: historical-legal aspect

Abstract

The article is devoted to the historical-legal issues of research the systematization of the Ukrainian people's customary law. It was found that the systematization of customary law is a type of systematization of law and can be carried out both by incorporation and codification. Legal customs were recorded and placed in a collection in case of their incorporation. Instead, during codification, customary norms were adapted to the requirements of the form, structure and content of the legislative text. In contrast to simple written fixation, in the course of codification, the legislator had the opportunity to change, narrow or supplement the content of the norm of customary law. Customary law as a codification material played an important role in the process of formation legislation on Ukrainian lands. Norms of customary origin are present both in monuments of Ukrainian law and in low-known acts of local authorities. Based on the existing legal customs in society, the legislators intended to create a law that corresponded to the reality of that time. By studying the texts of ancient laws, there is an opportunity to discover the content of legal customs that were in effect before their adoption. On the other hand, the identification of provisions of the law, which have a customary origin, with legal customs is incorrect and does not correspond to the nature of this phenomenon. Legal customs, which were codified, were transformed into legislative prescriptions. The historical-legal research of the systematization of Ukrainian customary law has a number of problems. First, it is difficult to determine in which case the transformation of a norm of customary law into a provision of the law took place, and in which case - a record in the law book. After all, in ancient times, laws often resembled such law books or were de facto them, had a casuistic and fragmentary character. Secondly, it is sometimes impossible to prove that the corresponding provision of the legislation had a customary origin. Even if this is possible, there are difficulties in proving that this is a norm of the customary law of the Ukrainian people, and not of another nation. As we know, the legal customs of neighboring (and sometimes distant) peoples are often similar or even identical.