The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk or Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host

Пилип Степанович Орлик ( ) The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk or Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host was a 1710 constitutional document written by Hetman Pylyp Orlyk. 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 also 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.

After the Battle of Poltava when Charles XII of Sweden and Hetman Ivan Mazepa armies were defeated by Peter I of Russia, Pylyp Orlyk remained on the side of Mazepa. Together, Orlyk and Mazepa retreated to the city of Bendery, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. Zaporizhian Cossack Army also settled in this area. When Ivan Mazepa died on 5 April 1710, Pylyp Orlyk was elected as the Hetman of the Zaporizhia Host. On the same day, Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host was declared. Hence, Orlyk's Constitution is sometimes referred to by the city of its proclamation - Bendery.

The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk or Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host The title page of the Constitution in the Old Ukrainian language. The original is kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts in Moscow. The last page of the original Orlyk Constitution, stored Moscow with the original Orlyk signature and the seal Zaporozhian Host.

Articles 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: 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 Articles 6-10 limited the powers of the hetman and established a unique Cossack parliament, similar to an extended council of officers, which met 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 protected the rights of towns, limited the taxation of peasants and poor Cossacks, and restricted the innkeepers. Charles XII, who was present in Bendery at the time, confirmed these articles, as "the protector of Ukraine."