ASPECTS OF INFORMATION SUPPORT FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN THE UKRAINIAN LANDS IN THE PRE-SOVIET PERIOD

Introduction. The modern system of ensuring human rights and freedoms is built on the basis of detailed rules and implementation mechanisms, one of the important aspects of which is information support for judicial communications. At different times, Ukrainian lands were part of different state entities, which left its mark on the judicial system and information tools for the administration of justice. Studying these historical features allows us to better understand the specifics of the Ukrainian legal system. Purpose. The purpose of the study is to investigate and periodise the peculiarities of information support for the administration of justice in the pre-Soviet period. Materials and methods. The research materials are scientific works on information support for the administration of justice in the Ukrainian lands in the pre-Soviet period. The following scientific methods were used in the course of the study: historical and legal (to study the historical development of information support for the administration of justice in Ukrainian lands in different historical periods); periodisation method (to identify the main historical stages of formation of information support for justice and systematise their characteristic features); source study (to study, analyse and interpret historical sources of law, such as Ruska Pravda, Lithuanian statutes, Magdeburg law, Cossack customary law, etc. Results. The article examines the historical development of information support for the administration of justice in the Ukrainian lands in the pre-Soviet period. The author analyses the peculiarities of information sources and mechanisms of justice in different historical epochs — Kievan Rus, the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, the Hetmanate, the Russian Empire and the period of the Ukrainian People's Republic. The role of such documents as Ruska Pravda, Lithuanian statutes, Magdeburg law, Cossack customary law, and laws of the Ukrainian People's Republic is highlighted. The use of acts, universals, court books, and protocols as information tools of justice is considered. The author reveals the tendency towards systematisation and codification of legal norms, introduction of written forms of legal proceedings, and creation of archival institutions. The author concludes that the system of information support of justice in Ukraine before the Soviet period was gradually improving. Discussion. The subject of further scientific research may be the study of the following historical periods in the context of information support for the administration of justice.