1. Introduction. – 2. Theoretical Foundations of the Doctrine of Limited Government. – 3. Key Elements of the Doctrine of Limited Government. – 4. The Doctrine of Limited Government in the Legal Positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. – 5. Conclusions.
Background:
The essence of a constitutional system lies in two key aspects: limiting state power and ensuring the supremacy of rights, particularly the protection of human rights and freedoms. Without mechanisms to limit state power, the state inevitably encroaches on society and the private lives of individuals, threatening their rights and freedoms. The evolution of constitutional systems in liberal-democratic countries has been closely tied to strengthening civil society and developing tools for controlling state power. Historically, this evolution has moved from an absolute state, where the state was the sole owner and source of power, to a liberal-democratic state, where the state serves the people and civil society. Alongside this historical shift, there has been a transformation of individuals from being mere cogs in the machinery of state power to becoming citizens of a constitutional state, demanding that the state exercise restraint to safeguard individual freedom. One of the central ideas of constitutionalism is the principle of limited government. This article aims to analyse the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine concerning the doctrine of limited government. In particular, it explores how the Court interprets key elements of this doctrine, such as the rule of law, the separation of powers, the rights of individuals and citizens, and the doctrine of constituent power. These and other related issues form the core of the research presented in this article.
Methods:
The study employed several methods to examine the doctrine of limited government, its elements, and the legal positions related to this issue. The system-structural method was used to characterise the concept and content of the doctrine of limited government and its key elements, including the principle of the rule of law, the principle of separation of powers, the rights of individuals and citizens, and the doctrine of constituent power. The logical-legal method facilitated an understanding of the perspectives of scholars on the formation and development of the doctrine of limited government, as well as their views on the content of its elements. Additionally, legal methods such as examining constitutional texts, primary legislation, and case law were employed to analyse the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Results and Conclusions:
The study examines the historical development and current state of the concept of limited government, exploring its connections with the doctrine of constituent power, the principle of the rule of law, the concept of human rights and freedoms, and the principle of the separation of powers. The primary conclusion is that the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the doctrine of limited government, a key pillar of modern Ukrainian constitutionalism, have been systematically reviewed. It has been established that the Constitutional Court of Ukraine has consistently affirmed the essential elements of the doctrine of limited government from its inception. These elements form the doctrine of constituent power and the fundamental principle of constitutionalism, emphasising the necessity of limiting state power to safeguard human rights and freedoms. Furthermore, the Court upholds the view that the organisation and exercise of state power based on the division into legislative, executive, and judicial branches is not an end in itself but is intended to ensure the protection of individual rights and freedoms.
Background:
The essence of a constitutional system lies in two key aspects: limiting state power and ensuring the supremacy of rights, particularly the protection of human rights and freedoms. Without mechanisms to limit state power, the state inevitably encroaches on society and the private lives of individuals, threatening their rights and freedoms. The evolution of constitutional systems in liberal-democratic countries has been closely tied to strengthening civil society and developing tools for controlling state power. Historically, this evolution has moved from an absolute state, where the state was the sole owner and source of power, to a liberal-democratic state, where the state serves the people and civil society. Alongside this historical shift, there has been a transformation of individuals from being mere cogs in the machinery of state power to becoming citizens of a constitutional state, demanding that the state exercise restraint to safeguard individual freedom. One of the central ideas of constitutionalism is the principle of limited government. This article aims to analyse the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine concerning the doctrine of limited government. In particular, it explores how the Court interprets key elements of this doctrine, such as the rule of law, the separation of powers, the rights of individuals and citizens, and the doctrine of constituent power. These and other related issues form the core of the research presented in this article.
Methods:
The study employed several methods to examine the doctrine of limited government, its elements, and the legal positions related to this issue. The system-structural method was used to characterise the concept and content of the doctrine of limited government and its key elements, including the principle of the rule of law, the principle of separation of powers, the rights of individuals and citizens, and the doctrine of constituent power. The logical-legal method facilitated an understanding of the perspectives of scholars on the formation and development of the doctrine of limited government, as well as their views on the content of its elements. Additionally, legal methods such as examining constitutional texts, primary legislation, and case law were employed to analyse the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
Results and Conclusions:
The study examines the historical development and current state of the concept of limited government, exploring its connections with the doctrine of constituent power, the principle of the rule of law, the concept of human rights and freedoms, and the principle of the separation of powers. The primary conclusion is that the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine regarding the doctrine of limited government, a key pillar of modern Ukrainian constitutionalism, have been systematically reviewed. It has been established that the Constitutional Court of Ukraine has consistently affirmed the essential elements of the doctrine of limited government from its inception. These elements form the doctrine of constituent power and the fundamental principle of constitutionalism, emphasising the necessity of limiting state power to safeguard human rights and freedoms. Furthermore, the Court upholds the view that the organisation and exercise of state power based on the division into legislative, executive, and judicial branches is not an end in itself but is intended to ensure the protection of individual rights and freedoms.
Tetiana Slin’ko
Cand. of Legal Science (PhD in Law), Professor, Department of Constitutional Law of Ukraine, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
t.m.slinko@nlu.edu.ua
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4969-8780
Co-author, responsible for conceptualization, formal analysis, validation, writing-original draft.
Yevhenii Tkachenko
Cand. of Legal Science (PhD in Law), Assoc. Prof., Department of Constitutional Law of Ukraine, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
ye.v.tkachenko@nlu.edu.ua
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2510-5362
Corresponding author, responsible for research methodology, data curation, investigation, writing-original draft.
Liubomyr Letnianchyn
Cand. of Legal Science (PhD in Law), Assoc. Prof., Department of Constitutional Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
l.i.letnyanchyn@nlu.edu.ua
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6495-9809
Co-author, responsible for research methodology, data curation, investigation, writingoriginal draft.
Serhii Fedchyshyn
Dr.Sc. (Law), Assoc. Prof., Department of Administrative Law, Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, Kharkiv, Ukraine
s.a.fedchyshyn@nlu.edu.ua
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3096-3214
Co-author, responsible for research methodology, data curation, investigation, writingoriginal draft. Competing interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Disclaimer: The authors declare that their opinion and views expressed in this manuscript are free of any impact of any organizations.
Copyright: © 2025 Tetiana Slin’ko, Yevhenii Tkachenko, Liubomyr Letnianchyn and Serhii Fedchyshyn. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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АНОТАЦІЯ УКРАЇНСЬКОЮ МОВОЮ
Дослідницька стаття
ДОКТРИНА ОБМЕЖЕНОГО ПРАВЛІННЯ У ПРАВОВИХ ПОЗИЦІЯХ КОНСТИТУЦІЙНОГО СУДУ УКРАЇНИ
Тетяна Слінько, Євгеній Ткаченко*, Любомир Летнянчин та Сергій Федчишин
АНОТАЦІЯ
Вступ.
Сутність конституційного ладу полягає у двох основних аспектах: обмеження державної влади та забезпечення верховенства прав, зокрема захисту прав і свобод людини. Без механізмів обмеження державної влади держава неминуче втручається в життя суспільства і приватне життя людини, загрожуючи її правам і свободам. Еволюція конституційних систем у ліберально-демократичних країнах була тісно пов'язана зі зміцненням громадянського суспільства та розвитком інструментів контролю над державною владою. Історично ця еволюція пройшла шлях від абсолютної держави, де держава була єдиним власником і джерелом влади, до ліберальнодемократичної держави, де держава служить народу та громадянському суспільству. Разом із цим історичним зрушенням відбулася трансформація індивідів із простих гвинтиків у механізмі державної влади в громадян правової держави, які вимагають від держави стриманості для захисту індивідуальної свободи. Однією з центральних ідей конституціоналізму є принцип обмеженості правління. Метою статті є аналіз правових позицій Конституційного Суду України щодо доктрини обмеженого правління. Зокрема, досліджується, як Суд тлумачить ключові елементи цієї доктрини, такі як верховенство права, поділ влади, права людини і громадянина, а також доктрина установчої влади. Ці та інші пов'язані з ними питання становлять основу дослідження в цій статті.
Методи.
Для вивчення доктрини обмеженого правління та її елементів, а також для аналізу правових позицій, пов’язаних із цим питанням, було використано низку методів. За допомогою системно-структурного методу охарактеризовано поняття і зміст доктрини обмеженого державного правління та її ключові елементи, зокрема принцип верховенства права, принцип поділу влади, права людини і громадянина, доктрину правової держави, установчу владу. Логіко-правовий метод сприяв усвідомленню поглядів науковців на становлення та розвиток вчення про обмежене державне правління, а також їхні погляди на зміст його елементів. Крім того, для аналізу правових позицій Конституційного Суду України були використані правові методи, такі як дослідження конституційних текстів, первинного законодавства та судової практики.
Результати та висновки.
У статті було розглянуто історичний розвиток і сучасний стан концепції обмеженого правління, досліджено її зв’язки з доктриною установчої влади, принципом верховенства права, концепцією прав і свобод людини та принципом поділу влади. Результатом дослідження є систематизований розгляд правових позицій Конституційного Суду України щодо доктрини обмеженого правління, яка є ключовою опорою сучасного українського конституціоналізму. Встановлено, що Конституційний Суд України з самого початку послідовно підтверджував істотні елементи доктрини обмеженого державного правління. Ці елементи утворюють доктрину установчої влади та фундаментальний принцип конституціоналізму, який підкреслює необхідність обмеження державної влади для захисту прав і свобод людини. Крім того, Суд дотримується думки, що організація та здійснення державної влади на основі поділу на законодавчу, виконавчу та судову гілки влади не є самоціллю, а має на меті забезпечити захист прав і свобод особи.
Ключові слова: Конституційний суд, обмежене правління, конституціоналізм, обмеження державної влади, права людини, установча влада, верховенство права, поділ влади
Date of submission: 03 Oct 2024
Date of acceptance: 08 Nov 2024
Date of publication: 15 Feb 2025
Whether the manuscript was fast tracked? - No
Number of reviewer report submitted in first round: 2 reports
Number of revision rounds: 1 round, revised version submitted 06 Dec 2024
Technical tools were used in the editorial process:
Plagiarism checks - Turnitin from iThenticate https://www.turnitin.com/products/ithenticate/ Scholastica for Peer Review https://scholasticahq.com/law-reviews
Slin’ko T, Tkachenko Ye, Letnianchyn L and Fedchyshyn S, ‘The Doctrine of Limited Government in the Legal Positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine’ (2025) 8(1) Access to Justice in Eastern Europe 41-61 <https://doi.org/10.33327/AJEE-18-8.1-a000107>
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