Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk

The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk or Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host (Ukrainian: Конституція Пилипа Орлика (Konstytutsiya Pylypa Orlyka); Пакти і Конституції прав і вольностей Війська Запорозького (Pakty i Konstytutsii Prav i Volnostei Viyska Zaporozkoho), Latin: Pacta et Constitutiones Legum Libertatumque Exercitus Zaporoviensis) was a 1710 constitutional document written by Hetman Pylyp Orlyk, a Cossack of Ukraine.

It established a democratic standard for the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. The Constitution limited the executive authority of the hetman, and established a democratically elected Cossack parliament called the General Council. Pylyp Orlyk's Constitution was unique for its historic period, and was one of the first state constitutions in Europe.

After the Battle of Poltava, when Charles XII of Sweden's and Hetman Ivan Mazepa's armies were defeated by Peter I of Russia, Pylyp Orlyk remained with Mazepa. Together, Orlyk, Mazepa and their Cossack forces retreated to the city of Bendery, (now Moldova, then part of the Ottoman Empire). The Zaporizhian Cossack Army also settled in this area.

When Mazepa died on 5 April 1710, Pylyp Orlyk was elected as the Hetman of the Zaporizhia Host. On the same day, he declared the Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host. Hence, Orlyk's Constitution is sometimes referred to by the city of its proclamation, Bendery.

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