The law as contained in the Cossack Universals : Bohdan Khmielnicki's Universals of 1648-1654

Bibliogr. w przypisach. Streszcz. w jęz. ang. s. 86-87. Strona wydawcy: https://www.wuj.pl

There was a considerable conflict between the 17lh century Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania and the 17,h century Ukraine. The conflict produced a challenge toward the existing political balance in that part of Europe. In the Cossack State that thus came to being the social hierarchy became fundamentally transformed. Hence the Khmielnicki insurrection used to be called the Cossack revolution. It was at that time that the Cossacks had either to create their own institutions and agencies or to adapt to their needs those applied by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which previously ruled their territories. It was doubtless the tradition of the multiethnic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth that was formative of the institution of Universal which was applied by the Cossack hetman. Also the situations in which the Universal used to be issued as well as its content were borrowed from the uzus of the Commonwealth. Even a superficial survey of the discussed Universals may provide an interesting contribution to the history of Polish law. The present paper starts its analysis from the Cossack revolt, that is from the late April 1648, and continues the discussion until the Perejeslav Agreement of the 18th of January 1654. The Agreement was preceded by the resolution of the Russian Zemski Sobor which took the decision on extending the tsar’s protectorate over the Cossack and the Ukraine. As future developments demonstrated, this episode was tantamount to the Cossacks’ breaking their ties with the Commonwealth. The content of Universals varied. In the period discussed in the paper the largest proportion of Universals regulated the legal and financial status of the Orthodox Church, many of these universals referring also to the duties of the serfs. The second group of Universals was concerned with the public order. They tried to provide for the safety of life and property both vis-à-vis the individual persons as well as the whole groups of people and also certain territories. The last group of Universals contained the administrative decrees, appointments, orders assigning the places of the concentration of the Cossack troops, proclamations informing of the negotiations, guarantees of safe visits awarded to envoys etc. The forms of address applied in the Universals with respect to Khmielnicki are reflective of the meanders of his policy as well as the gradual growth of his position.