OUTSTANDING UKRAINIAN HISTORIAN AND LAWYER, STATESMAN AND PUBLIC FIGURE (TO THE 160TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF ACADEMICIAN M.P. VASILENKO)

Abstract

The article attempts to comprehensively summarize the multifaceted socio-political and scientific activities of the outstanding public and statesman, initiator of the formation of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and its second President M. P. Vasylenko. The main stages of his life and creative path are characterized.M. P. Vasylenko is a prominent figure of the Ukrainian national and cultural revival, an active participant in the socio-political processes at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, which were marked by an ever-deepening aggravation of social contradictions, especially in the field of the national liberation movement in Ukraine. During the Ukrainian Revolution, while holding key government positions, he made many efforts to Ukrainize education and create national cultural and artistic institutions. The contribution of the scientist to the study of original sources of Ukrainian law, monuments of the legal culture of the Ukrainian people, and the founding of the scientific school of the history of Ukrainian law are considered. A significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian historical and legal science was made by the "Commission for the Study of the History of Ukrainian Law of the VUAN", which M. Vasylenko headed from 1920 until the end of its existence. In 1929, M. P. Vasylenko's thorough work "Materials for the History of Ukrainian Law" was published, where for the first time original historical sources of Ukrainian law were introduced into scientific circulation. M. P. Vasylenko was the first to conduct a legal study of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk (1710), convincingly proving that its republican ideas, under favorable political circumstances, could significantly influence the nature of the state system of Ukraine in its further development. The significant contribution of the creative heritage of Academician M. P. Vasylenko and the relevance of his scientific works for the present day are emphasized. The scientific achievements of M. P. Vasylenko are almost 500 scientific and journalistic works, mainly on the history of the state and law of Ukraine, which still retain their great scientific value.

References

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