"The Treaties and Covenants" of Pylyp Orlyk of 1710: the influence of social and political circumstances on historical discourse

Abstract

Nowadays history plays a significant role in the social and political life of the nation state. Since it aims to legitimize political institutions and rationalize official policies, it has basically become an integral part of it. Consequently, historiography sometimes formulates pseudoscientific ideological products justified by the political needs of society. Following these considerations, this paper offers a self-critical reflection on the approaches of Ukrainian legal history and non-specialized historiography to the study of a memorable legal document of supreme importance – the Treaties and Covenants between Hetman Pylyp Orlyk and the Zaporozhian Host of 1710, also known as the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk of 1710. The article offers a critical review of the major existing hypotheses of Ukrainian legal history and non-specialized historiography which are based on research carried out at different periods of Ukrainian political reality (the imperial, Soviet and post-Soviet eras). It applies a critical approach in analyzing attempts to consider this document of feudal law within the paradigm of contemporary constitutionalism, evaluating their adequacy and correctness in terms of historical and legal scholarship. It also highlights alternative approaches in historical and historical and legal historiography to the political and legal assessment of the Treaties and Covenants of 1710.