Department of Constitutional and Municipal Law

Department of Constitutional and Municipal Law

Department of Constitutional and Municipal Law of the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the NAS of Ukraine was created on the basis of the Department of Soviet Construction founded in 1969.

After the declaration of independence of Ukraine, the Department of Constitutional Law and Local Self-Government of the V. M. Koretsky Institute of State and Law of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has been one of the leading scientific units in Ukraine in developing conceptual problems of the new Constitution of Ukraine and problems of local self-government in Ukraine. The priority topics of scientific research in the department since the end of 1991 have been theoretical problems of the state sovereignty of Ukraine as an independent democratic state and the issue of legal support for the organization and activities of the representative system of Ukraine.

Along with the problems of state formation and local self-government, the department is significantly expanding its research on law-making problems. In this regard, the Department of Constitutional Law and Local Self-Government was renamed the Department of Constitutional Law, Local Self-Government and Law-making Problems.

Since that time, the development of constitutional and legal research at the Institute has been largely associated with the name of V. F. Pohorilko, who since 1991 was the head of the Department of Legislation, and since 1993 — the Department of Constitutional Law, Local Self-Government and Legislation Problems.

The main topic of the department's research in the mid-1990s was: «The formation and development of legislation and the legislative process in the Ukrainian state during the period of its independence». As a result, a Comprehensive Concept for the Development of Ukrainian Legislation was prepared, which consisted of the General Concept for the Development of Ukrainian Legislation and sectoral concepts, including the Concept for the Development of Ukrainian Constitutional Legislation. This Concept was later used as the basis for the official Concept for the Development of Ukrainian Legislation until 2005, approved by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

At the end of 1998, the department received its current name — the Department of Constitutional Law and Local Self-Government. Since then, the department's scientific research has been devoted to topical problems of this field of law, including: theoretical problems of the constitutional system of Ukraine, problems of the implementation of human and citizen rights and freedoms, constitutional principles of direct democracy, constitutional principles of associations of citizens of Ukraine, theoretical problems of the exercise of legislative and executive power and the status of the President of Ukraine, constitutional and legal problems of the judicial system and judicial proceedings, constitutional principles of territorial organization and local self-government, constitutional and legal problems of the State Budget and local budgets, constitutional principles of information activities and national security and defense.

Since 2006, the Department of Constitutional Law and Local Self-Government has been headed by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Yu. S. Shemshuchenko. Since then, the scientific research of the department's staff has focused on methodological problems of constitutional and legal science, theoretical problems of the implementation of democracy, the constitution and constitutionalism, the theory of constitutional guarantees of human rights, constitutional and legal responsibility, parliamentarism and the legislative process, local self-government, legal reform, etc. In addition, throughout the entire period of the department's operation, its employees have been actively participating in the constitutional process as members of various consultative and advisory bodies. In particular, the Constitutional Commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the working group on the development of the draft Constitution of Ukraine included Yu. S. Shemshuchenko (1996), Commission for the preparation of amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine and other draft laws — Yu. S. Shemshuchenko (2000), National Constitutional Council — Yu. S. Shemshuchenko (2008), Constitutional Assembly — Yu. S. Shemshuchenko, O. V. Skrypnyuk, M. O. Pukhtynskyi (2010—2014), Constitutional Commission — Yu. S. Shemshuchenko, O. V. Batanov (2015—2019), O. V. Batanov, Legal Reform Commission (since 2019). Also, within the framework of these and other consultative and advisory bodies under the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and ministries, the department's employees take an active part in the legislative work. At the request of the subjects of legislative initiative, scientific and legal expertise of draft laws is carried out.

At the present stage, Department of Constitutional and Municipal Law remains the flagship of constitutional and legal academic research in Ukraine and is the leading scientific unit that ensures the development of scientific topics related to the study of fundamental problems of the theory of the Constitution of Ukraine and the constitutional law of Ukraine,its subject, functions, system and sources, the subject-object composition of constitutional-legal relations, the principles of the constitutional system and the means of its protection, modern constitutionalism and parliamentarism, the theory of human rights, constitutional and legal principles of direct democracy, state power and local self-government, constitutional and legal responsibility, constitutional and legal provision of national security and defense, information relations, etc.

The Institute has a postgraduate and doctoral program for the training of constitutional scholars, and a specialized doctoral academic council for defense in the specialty 12.00.02 — constitutional law; municipal law. In 2016, the Institute received a license to train Doctors of Philosophy. Over the years of the existence of the academic school of constitutional studies, the Institute has trained more than 30 doctors and more than 90 candidates of sciences in constitutional law.

The department holds regular discussions on current issues of constitutional law and local self-government, the organization and activities of public authorities in Ukraine, and the legal foundations of constitutional reform and local self-government reform. The main efforts of the department's researchers are aimed at creating theoretical foundations for the implementation of the Constitution and its propaganda and popularization.