Administrative Code of the Ukrainian SSR

Administrative Code of the Ukrainian SSR (Administratyvnyi kodeks URSR). For several years the administrative code of 1927 was the basic source of effective administrative law in the Ukrainian SSR. It was one of the few independent manifestations of the Soviet government of Ukraine, for neither the Russian SFSR nor the other republics possessed such a code. The administrative code was drawn up by a legal commission in 1926 and confirmed by the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee on 12 October 1927. It came into force on 1 February 1928. The code consisted of 528 articles organized under 15 sections: (1) principles; (2) administrative acts; (3) administrative sanctions; (4) other administrative measures of compulsion; (5) labor conscription for preventing and combating natural disasters; (6) the people's duties in preserving public order; (7) Ukrainian Soviet citizenship, its acquisition and forfeit; (8) registration and recording of population movements; (9) associations, unions, clubs, conferences, and assemblies; (10) regulations on religious cults; (11) public spectacles, recreation, and sports; (12) the use of the state flag and seals; (13) supervision of administrative bodies in industry; (14) supervision of administrative bodies in trade; (15) appeal procedures against local administrative agencies.

Because of legislative changes and strong tendencies towards centralization in Soviet administrative law (introduction of new all-Union state administrative agencies), only a part of the administrative code has remained in force (not more than 150 articles in 1962). The last complete official edition of the code was published in 1935, and selections from it were published in 1956.

For several years, and particularly in 1958 and 1959, it was frequently asserted that a new administrative code was needed. A general proposal was quickly prepared and discussed, although the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR adopted a resolution ‘On Organizing the Work of Codifying the Legislation of the Ukrainian SSR' only on 24 May 1967. In this resolution the presidium assigned the task of organizing the preparation of proposals for various new codes, particularly an administrative code, to the Commission for Legislative Proposals of the Supreme Soviet. The projected code included sections on administrative wrongdoings, administrative procedure, and judicial control over the legality of state administrative acts. The work on the new and possibly complete administrative code, which was to encompass administrative-procedural norms, did not culminate in legislative action. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet revoked on 19 July 1977 its previous resolution of 1967 on publishing a new adminstrative code. As a result of the intensified administrative integration of the USSR, the work plan that was appended to the resolution required merely that the code on administrative wrongdoings be prepared by the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian SSR by December 1980.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kanars’kyi, S.; Mazurenko, Iu. (eds). Administratyvnyi kodeks USRR: Tekst ta poartykul’nyi komentar, preface by V. Balyts’kyi (Kharkiv 1928)
‘Verwaltungsgesetzbuch der Ukraine von 1927,’ intro and trans V. Durdynevs’kyi, Zeitschrift für Ostrecht, 1928, nos. 10–11
Pavlovs’kyi, R. ‘Rozrobka administratyvnoho kodeksu URSR—nevidkladne zavdannia,' Radians’ke pravo, 1958, no. 5
Pakhomov, I. ‘Pro systemu administratyvnoho kodeksu,’ Radians’ke pravo, 1959, no. 4
Iakuba, O. ‘Teoreticheskie osnovy proekta novogo administrativnogo kodeksa Ukrainskoi SSR,’ Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, 1969, no. 1
– ‘Do pytannia pro zmist i znachennia administratyvno-protsesual’nykh norm,’ Problemy pravoznavstva, 1970, no. 17

Theodore Ciuciura

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]