In honor of the holiday - the Day of the Constitution of Ukraine - the "ElitExpert" agency analyzes interesting facts about the Basic Law together with the famous lawyer and lawyer Ihor Shavrov.
So, 16 little-known facts about the Ukrainian Constitution:
- Much is said about the Constitution of Philip Orlyk of 1710, however, the Swedish king is mentioned 13 times in this document, and as it becomes clear, this is not the constitution of an independent state:
"Since any state is asserted by the inviolable integrity of its borders, so that the borders of Little Russia, our Motherland, are confirmed by pacts from the Polish Commonwealth, the Most Clear Porte and the State of Moscow, especially those borders along the Sluch River during the hetmanship of the glorious memory of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi from the same Commonwealth of Poland to the lands of the Hetman and Military lands have been given forever and stipulated by pacts, have never been violated, His Highness the Hetman, in agreement with the Most Eminent King of His Grace the Swedish, must take care and, as much as God gives strength and intelligence, defend when necessary . It is especially necessary to complain to the most clear majesty of His Royal Majesty of Sweden as our defender and protector, so that His Majesty does not allow anyone to violate and appropriate not only the rights and freedoms, but also the borders of the military. In addition, after the end of the war, His Highness the Hetman, God willing, will have to ask the Royal Majesty of Sweden for such a treatise, so that His Majesty and his heirs, the most illustrious Swedish kings, will be titled eternal protectors of Ukraine, and their affairs will remain aimed at strengthening the power of our Motherland and preserving it integrity in granted rights and borders".
2. The Day of the Constitution of Ukraine is the only state holiday enshrined in the Constitution itself.
3. The process of preparing the Constitution of Ukraine dragged on for six years — from 1990 to 1996. Adoption of the document was hampered by confrontations between the president of Ukraine and the parliament against the background of the long-term social and economic crisis in the country.
4. During 1990-1996. 15 drafts of the Constitution of Ukraine were proposed by the Constitutional Commission, political parties and academics.
5. The Constitution of Ukraine could not be adopted on June 28, because on the eve of the historic session of the Parliament, the President of Ukraine issued a decree on the holding of an all-Ukrainian referendum on September 25, 1996, on the adoption of the new Constitution of Ukraine. However, after the adoption of the Constitution, this decree was canceled.
6. There is a legend about the doors of the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada allegedly being closed from the outside and the deputies locked in - so that they did not leave the hall, did not adopt the Constitution. In fact, around 2 o'clock in the morning on June 28, many parliamentarians began to disperse. Then the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Alexander Moroz, announced that he would put to a vote the question of revoking the mandates of all absentees. This forced people's deputies to return to their workplaces with apologies.
7. Then, on June 28, 1996, at the 5th session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine of the 2nd convocation, people's deputies approved the Constitution of Ukraine. The document was born in agony: it came to fights. People's deputies voted for each article separately and separately. Time of birth of the Constitution – 9:20 on June 28, 1996 with 315 votes. 6 amendments were made to the text submitted for review.
8. Our country adopted the constitution of the last of all countries of the former USSR — in the fifth year of independence.
9. The international community called the Ukrainian Constitution one of the most democratic in the world.
10. 32 rights are enshrined in the Constitution, but it says that the rights in it "are not exhaustive." This means that our rights can be supplemented by international treaties, conventions and other similar documents. This means that the number of our rights is infinite.
11. There are 18 rights in the Constitution that cannot be revoked under any circumstances. This is the right to life and its protection, the right to freedom and personal integrity, the right to respect for dignity, the right to housing, to the protection of one's rights and freedoms by a court, and others.
12. The Constitution enshrines 5 duties of a citizen. We are obliged to protect the independence and territorial integrity of our country, respect the state symbols of Ukraine, pay taxes, not harm nature and cultural heritage and, of course, be law-abiding. The fifth duty is to love and care for one's children and parents.
13. During the entire existence of the Constitution of Ukraine, it was changed not once, but as many as 7 times, which were introduced in accordance with the laws.
14. The smallest copy of the Basic Law of Ukraine measuring 2x3 cm was created by the artist Igor Stepanov in 2011. It has 160 pages and weighs 15 grams.
15. At the moment, there are 70 official interpretative norms of the Constitution, which have been implemented by the KSU since its creation.
