Constitutional Process in Belarus (History and the Present)
The legal (constitutional) history of Belarus is analyzed. Different points of view on the development and formation of the Belarusian statehood are addressed. Works by domestic, Russian, Polish and Lithuanian authors expressing their views on the history of the Belarusian people were used. The attention is focused on the influence of the Statutes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania on the development of the Belarusian sovereign law. It is noted that there are at least two Belarusian approaches to the assessment of the Belarusian statehood. The first approach is a Soviet inheritance; according to it, the Belarusian statehood started January 1, 1919 following the proclamation of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Byelorussia in Smolensk. According to the second approach, the Belarusian statehood dates back to many centuries ago and begins no later than the time of the Principality of Polotsk. New opportunities for the development of Belarus as an independent state emerged in the late 1980s. That period was marked by the beginning of transformation in the relations between the USSR and its Union Republics and the growing activity of citizens and public associations; at that background, there started the process of reforming the political, economic and legal systems. Law needed to be substantially updated at that time. The article highlights the most important laws passed at that period by the supreme body of state power in Belarus. These laws finalized the legal enshrinement of the independence. These include fundamental legal acts such as the Declaration on State Sovereignty of Belarus, the Law on Basic Principles of Democracy in the Republic of Belarus and the new Constitution of Belarus adopted in 1994 following over three years of preparation. All this allows making a complete picture of the development of the constitutional process in Belarusian lands. It is inseparable from the historical process of the development of the Belarusian people and its statehood.