ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL ADMINISTRATION OF BUKOVYNA AT THE END OF THE 18TH – BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

The administrative structure of the western Ukrainian lands of the late 18th and early 20th centuries has always aroused an increased interest among representatives of domestic historical and legal science. This is not surprising, because the described period was marked by many important historical events that left an imprint on the organization and social life of the western Ukrainian lands and enriched the history of the Ukrainian people with new political and legal experience. The purpose of the study is a comprehensive historical and legal analysis of the administrative structure and system of local government of Bukovyna in the late 18th and early 20th centuries, when the region was part of the Austrian (and later Austro-Hungarian) empire. The research was conducted by analyzing, systematizing and summarizing information from various historical sources, legal monuments, historical and legal studies of domestic and foreign scientists using general scientific and special legal methods of scientific knowledge, in particular analysis and synthesis, abstraction, generalization, systematic, formal and legal, comparative legal, historical legal and other methods. It was established that the development of the local government system in Bukovina from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century depended primarily on the administrative status of the region, which changed repeatedly during the entire existence of the Austrian state. Thus, from 1775–1786 the Bukovyna region existed as a military administration, from 1787-1849 as a separate district within the Kingdom of Galicia and Volodymyria, and from 1849–1914 as a separate crown region – the Duchy of Bukovyna. The very system of local authorities and self-government in the towns and villages of Bukovyna was quite simple and effective and had characteristic features in each of the mentioned periods. Bukovyna also received its own regional constitution, coat of arms and representation in the Austrian parliament. Thus, the administrative development of the Bukovyna region stretched over centuries and was accompanied by periodic administrative and territorial transformations and reorganization of the local government system, which caused significant changes in the life of the entire population of the region.