June 2022

Pylyp Orlyk’s Constitution, also known as The Constitution of Bendery, is a  constitutional document written by the Hetman of Ukraine, Pylyp Orlyk, in 1710. This document represents the height of Ukrainian legal-political thought in the early 18th century. 

It established the principle of 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 document limited the executive authority of the hetman, and established a Cossack parliament called the General Council (General Rada).

Articles 1-3 dealt with general Ukrainian affairs. They proclaimed the Eastern Orthodox faith to be the faith of Ukraine, and to further the independence from Moscow, the Kiev Patriarchate must acquire the direct subordination to the Apostolic Capital of Constantinople. 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:

1. to expel, with the help of Charles XII, the Russians from Zaporozhian territories
2. to grant the town of Trakhtemyriv to the Zaporozhians to serve as a hospital, and
3. to disallow non-Zaporozhians to own anything in Zaporozhian territories

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.