The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk or Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host Пакти і Конституції прав і вольностей Війська Запорозького was a 1710 constitutional document written by Hetman Pylyp Orlyk, a Cossack of Ukraine. It established a democratic standard for the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. The Constitution limited the executive authority of the hetman, and established a democratically elected Cossack parliament called the General Council. Pylyp Orlyk's Constitution was unique for its historic period, and was one of the first state constitutions in Europe.
History
After the Battle of Poltava, when Charles XII of Sweden's and Hetman Ivan Mazepa's armies were defeated by Peter I of Russia, Pylyp Orlyk remained with Mazepa. Together, Orlyk, Mazepa, and their Cossack forces retreated to the city ofBendery, in Bessarabia. The Zaporizhian Cossack Army also settled in this area. When Mazepa died on 5 April 1710, Pylyp Orlyk was elected as the Hetman of the Zaporizhian Host. On the same day, he issued the Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host. Hence, Orlyk's Constitution is sometimes referred to by the city of its proclamation, Bendery.
Articles of the Constitution
The document is made up of a preamble and 16 articles.
Preamble
The preamble briefly discusses Cossack history, their Khazar origin, the rise of the Zaporizhian Sich and its downfall when after under Bohdan Khmelnytsky it rebelled against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and ended up serving Imperial Russia. According to the introduction, using all available means, Moscow limited and nullified rights and freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host and eventually subjugated the free Cossack nation. Ivan Mazepa's politics and alliance with Charles XII of Sweden are explained as logical and inevitable, mandated by the need to free the homeland. The independence of the new state from Russia is given as the primary goal of the Bendery Constitution.
Articles 1 - 5
Articles 1-3 dealt with general Ukrainian affairs. They proclaimed the Orthodox faith to be the faith of Ukraine, and independent of the patriarch of Moscow. The Sluch River was designated as the boundary between Ukraine and Poland. The articles also recognized the need for an anti-Russian alliance between Ukraine and the Crimean Khanate. Articles 4-5 reflected the interests of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, who constituted the overwhelming majority of the Bendery emigration. The Hetman was obligated: Pylyp Orlyk
to expel, with the help of Charles XII, the Russians from Zaporozhian territories
to grant the town of Trakhtymyriv to the Zaporozhians to serve as a hospital, and
to keep non-Zaporozhians away from Zaporozhian territories
Articles 6 - 16
Articles 6-10 limited the powers of the hetman and established a Cossack parliament, similar to an extended council of officers, which was to meet three times a year. The General Council was to consist not only of the general staff and the regimental colonels, but also of "an outstanding and worthy individual from each regiment." Articles 11-16 protected the rights of towns, limited the taxation of peasants and poor Cossacks, and restricted the innkeepers. Charles XII, king of Sweden and "the protector of Ukraine," happened to be in Bendery at the time, and confirmed these articles.
