On the basis of new archival materials information about life, scientific, teaching and social activities of the famous legal scholarVolodymyr Gavrilovich Sokurenko is presented. The main stages of life and creative path and scientific heritage of the scientist arecharacterized. Particular attention is paid to the little-known early period of V.G. Sokurenko’s life, his military prowess during theSecond World War and postgraduate studies. The achievements of the legal scholar in the study of domestic thought about the state andthe law and relevance of his creative heritage are emphasized.Specific scientific works of the scientist are considered, in which, showing considerable creative courage and being under constantthreat of accusations of methodological errors and indulgence of bourgeois nationalism, he defended domestic priorities in thedevelopment of political and legal thought. He also analyzed the role of the law in the realization and development of a person, theimportance of linking freedom with law to expand the principle of equality and strengthen legal guarantees of the rights and freedomsof citizens. The topics of some other publications were current issues of methodology of law studies, scientific bases of law-made,boundaries of legal regulation, effectiveness of law, legal process, strengthening of the legal basis of state and social life, legal education,etc. V. G. Sokurenko was one of the first legal scholars in the USSR, who began scientific research on the basics of legal deontology,developed the basic requirements for professional duties of a lawyer.Brief information about the scientific conference on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the scientist, organized by the InternationalAssociation of Law Historians together with the Institute of State and Law named after V.M. Koretsky of the NAS of Ukraineand The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, is presented.

Introduction. The article is devoted to insufficiently studied history of founding of the leading scientific legal institution of Ukraine. On a purely documentary basis, with the introduction to the scientific circulation of new archival materials the events that accompanied the creation of the State and Law Branch in the AS UkrSSR system are highlighted and analyzed. The circumstances that accompanied the foundation of the Institute were analyzed for the first time in 1999 by the academician Yu. S. Shemshuchenko. The aim of the article. The purpose of this exploration is to complete the scientific reconstruction of the process of founding of our institute through the introduction of new archival documents into the scientific circulation, clarification of the author's idea of creating the institute, deepening of the understanding of the position of the state institutions of the UkrSSR and the USSR and the personal role of the academician V. M. Koretsky in this process. Results. A true history of legal science is only possible on the basis of a critical understanding of the primary sources, the search of which was the most important component of this study. The author analyzed the little-known published documents; the documents from the funds of the Central State Archives of Public Associations of Ukraine, the Central State Archives of Higher Authorities and Administration of Ukraine and the State Archives of the Russian Federation that have been introduced into scientific circulation; generalized information from the materials of the scientific archive of the Koretsky Institute of State and Law and some other primary sources. The question of formation of the idea of creating a legal academic institute and its development in the decisions of state, communist and academic structures is investigated. Particular attention is paid to Professor V. I. Boshko's appeal to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine (b) on the expediency of establishing of a Law Institute in the system of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, registered on April 4, 1947, and the figures of those party functionaries (who also happened to be highly qualified scientists at the same time) directly involved in reviewing this appeal. Сonclusions. Many well-known personalities and qualified scientists have made efforts to establish an academic law institution in Ukraine. At the same time, no confirmation has been found for the thesis about the decisive role of D. Z. Manuilskyi in this process, as well as for the opinion that the academic institution of the legal profile was needed first and foremost for the theoretical substantiation of the international legal personality of the Ukrainian SSR. Ways of further investigation of the problem are proposed, and a proposal for publishing of a large collection of documents and materials on the basis of an in-depth archival search is introduced.

On the basis of the sources published and new archival materials, more accurate information on well-known jurist Volodymyr Boshko’s life and his scientific, teaching and public activities is provided. For the first time, information on the unlawful repression of the scientist’s daughter and older brother is given. The main stages of his life, career, and scientific heritage are described. The little known scientific works of the jurist have been returned to scientific circulation. Particular attention is paid to Boshko’s early social and political essays. His achievements in the spheres of history of law and family law have been identified. It is emphasized that professor Boshko was the author of the first Soviet textbook on history of political and legal studies, which had been the only one for 30 years. It also has been found out that his scientific works concerning problems of the legal status of spouses and illegitimate children, alimony law and factual marriage are still relevant. The legal positions of the scholar on issues of state law, in particular the notions of sovereignty, equality of states, sovereignty of federations, content and legal nature of some human rights, are also covered. The works of the professor in the fields of civil and agrarian law are also mentioned. His talent as a teacher and the head of a number of academic institutions is indicated, in particular the attention is paid to his educational activity in various academic institutions of railway transport. The information on Boshko’s initiative on the state program “Big Dnieper” is given. The jurist’s affiliation to the activities of Kyiv Branch of the All-Ukrainian Scientific Association of Oriental Studies and of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences has been revealed. For the first time, the scholar’s initiative to establish the Institute of Law and the Department of Philosophy of Law in the system of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR is covered in detail. The milestones of the scientist’s life in the evacuation and post-war years of his activity at the Law Faculty of Kyiv University are reproduced in general terms. It is found that in recent years, the scholar had been actively working on his doctoral thesis on Soviet family law and had been preparing a three-volume work in history of political and legal studies, but these works were not completed.

Introduction. Victor Izmailovich Novytsky played a significant role in the life of the pre-war Ukrainian Academy, in the development of historical and legal science and archival affairs. He was a researcher of the Commission for the study of Western Russian and Ukrainian law of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and scientist-archivist of the Kyiv Central Archive of Ancient Acts. In 1938, the scientist was shot on falsified charges, and his creative legacy was artificially withdrawn from scientific circulation. It seems that the time has come to restore justice to the scientist and to give a proper assessment of his scientific achievements. The aim of the article. The reconstruction of the scientist's biography, clarification of the composition and evaluation of its scientific heritage. Results. The life and creative activity of V. I. Novytsky, a Kyiv intellectual in the third generation, was markedly influenced by his family and the city environment, his participation in the propaganda work of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party during his high school and university years. He was persecuted by the tsar for participating in the student movement, later became a member of the Ukrainian Central Rada (Central Council of Ukraine). Before the revolution, the researcher, doing science at his own expense, became an author оf a priority work on the history of the nobility of the 16th and 17th centuries. At the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences he prepared a number of problematic works on the history of Ukrainian law, in particular, of historiographical and methodological nature, developed the views of Mykhailo Hrushevsky on the stages of development of the law of the Ukrainian people. As a historian and archivist he was a profound connoisseur of act books, the author of interesting explorations of historical and geographical nature. Conclusion. The life destiny of V. I. Novytsky, a jurist and historian of the first third of the twentieth century, seems quite instructive, and his creative achievements are still not really appreciated. Researchers have yet to return a number of his scientific works to scientific circulation, to fill numerous gaps in the biography of the scientist.

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