THE ROLE OF THE AUSTRIAN REGIONAL COURTS IN GALICIA EXPERIENCE IN FORMATION OF DISTRICT COURTS OF THE WESTERN UKRAINIAN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC

Abstract

The article deals with the experience of the Austrian regional courts in Galicia, which was applied to form the district courts of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic. It is noted that as a result of the reform of Austrian justice in the middle of the 19 th century a tripartite court system was created, where the regional courts were the courts of first instance (acting as courts of first instance in separate civil and complex criminal cases). In Galicia, as part of the Austrian Empire, the regional courts began their activities in 1855, in particular in L’viv, Krakow and Chernivtsi, while the rest were called district (first, also the border), and their number varied from 9 to 15 years at different times. The regional courts in Galicia were headed by the presidents and structurally each regional court was divided into civil and criminal departments (senates). In addition, they comprised a court chancellery, a division of civil-court deposits, a prison, a department in commercial affairs. It was shown that the regional court served as a court of first and second instance. He decided on complaints about the decisions of district courts, complaints about the image of a person in the state of the defendant, appeal to the sentences. In addition, he supervised the activities of the county courts, was a disciplinary court for court officials in his judicial district, who decided to admit to the lawyer’s oath. The district courts had the right of judicial review of administrative orders. At the same time, the right of judicial review was extended to all types of norms, which were called orders: from ministries to local self-government bodies. The judge had the right to declare invalid an order that contravened one of the laws or did not have a proper form of disclosure (for example, a police order). It was noted that the organization of the ZUNR judicial system, in particular of the district courts, was based on the experience of the former Austrian system in Galicia. An important factor in the implementation of Austrian law and the organization of the judiciary of the ZUNR was that the national political leadership was presented, first of all, by lawyers (K. Levytskyi, S. Dnistryanskyi, E. Petrushevych, etc.), who owned not only theoretical knowledge in a particular field, but as well had the experience of practical application of specific legal requirements. Keywords: district court, regional court, judicial system, judiciary, ZUNR.