Fundamental liberties vs founds freedoms of Ukrainian citizen

Abstract

The evolution of the concept of «liberties» in Ukrainian constitutional acts in different historical periods is shown. The connection between Ukrainian and European legal traditions in the understanding of a free people, a free nation, civil liberties and the use of appropriate terminology in constitutional and other legal acts and political documents is proven. The author demonstrates that there was and could be no room for liberties in Soviet communist legal acts. They, like any manifestation of the nation’s or citizen’s will for autonomy, were persecuted and severely punished. The rights nominally remained in the constitutional and other legal acts, but in reality the entire Soviet era was characterized by complete neglect of human and citizen rights.

The author proves that the lexicon of freedom-loving Ukrainian nation is establishing itself in the modern political language. This should be enshrined in the Constitution and make it truly Ukrainian in terms of its spirit of freedom and justice, truly European in terms of the democratic values enshrined in it, and glorify in it the achievements of the Ukrainian nation in the creation of an independent and united state. But the current post-Soviet Constitution has long failed to meet the challenges of our time, the nation’s demands for justice after the war suffering, and modern standards of interaction between the state and civil society. It is proposed to eliminate contradictions in the understanding and application of legal terminology in legislation and political-legal discourse. A conclusion is made about the need to return the concept of «liberties» to the modern political and legal discourse and enshrine it in the new Constitution of the Ukrainian state.