PROFESSIONAL WORK AND PHYSICAL CONDITIONS OF WORK OF UKRAINIAN COUNTY LAWYERS OF GALICIA AT THE TURN OF XIX–XX CENTURIES

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of the professional activity of Ukrainian Galician county lawyers at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries. Geographically the territory under study comprises the modern Ivano-Frankivsk region (Stanislaviv region). The article analyzes the geographical places of the lawyers’ work and development of the lawyer strata, the conditions of their work at the county level as well as living conditions, specific professional activity, and social status of Ukrainian human rights activists.

There were only 4 Ukrainian lawyers working in the Carpathian lands in 1860–1880s, their number rose to 11 in 1890 years. During the first decade of the XX century, this amount doubled, and before World War I the total number of the Ukrainian lawyers reached 30. In 1914, all administrative county towns and a part of the judicial county centers of Prykarpattia had their Ukrainian human rights activists.

The professional activity of the Ukrainian lawyers was directed at the protection of rights of their compatriots; they used the Ukrainian language in all their legal protection proceeding as well as dealing with relevant official paperwork, consequently there was no language issue with their customers. Judicial officials were obliged to conduct trials and hearings in Ukrainian in accordance with the earlier grated permissions but they previously ignored this permits in practice as lawyers of other nationalities did not demand to adhere to this rule. Therefore, the language aspect was important for illiterate Ukrainian peasants who perceived "their" lawyers defenders not only as property or social defenders but also as champions of national rights.

According to their specialization and participation in trial cases lawyers were divided into criminal defenders and civil advocates (solicitors). The former mostly dealt with complex cases which were heard in district courts before a jury and their cases usually required not only highly professional training, and eloquence, but also a deep knowledge of the human nature and psychology. The list of Stanislaviv prominent criminal defense lawyers included L. Bachynsky, V. Dudykevych, T. Okunevskyi, K. Trylovskyi, and A. Tchai­kovsky. The civil advocates (solicitors) were lawyers specializing in civil law, in particular property and land laws. The high-class masters of civil law list had the names of I. Mandychevsky, I. Makukh, Y. Olesnytsky, J. Partytsky, and I. Hankevych. A significant amount of work was completed by the lawyers of small county towns who were in charge of various cases at the primary level of local county courts.

The great amount of work that lawyers had to deal with was somehow compensated for by a sufficient level of material income. The Ukrainian lawyers were wealthy enough to buy or build their own house, to provide their children with a good education, to invest a part of their money in public affairs. It was through their professional work and public activity that Ukrainian lawyers established a new social type of a Ukrainian Galician intellectual – the one who was educated, wealthy, and successful. Their business respecta­bility and material prosperity served as a paragon of professionalism and status, an example to follow. It was a gradual way of modernization of the Ukrainian nation as the representatives of law professions took the leader place in the national movement of Galicia, and demonstrated an example of class and social self-realization.

Keywords: lawyers, Galicia, civil defense attorney, law office, criminal defender, lawyer.