КОМПЕТЕНЦІЯ МІСЦЕВИХ ОРГАНІВ ВЛАДИ У СФЕРІ ЗЕМЕЛЬНИХ ВІДНОСИН НА ТЕРИТОРІЇ ЗАХІДНОЇ УКРАЇНИ В СКЛАДІ ПОЛЬЩІ (1921–939)
Authors: Zayats Oksana 
Published: January 2025

The article reveals the competence of local authorities in the field of land relations on the territory of Western Ukraine as part of Poland (1921–1939). It is shown that according to the Riga Peace Treaty of 1921, the territory of Western Ukraine was annexed to Poland. The state administration apparatus of the Republic of Poland was a differentiated system of administrative bodies that carried out general management, control and implementation of the reform in the field of land relations. Structurally, it was divided into: 1) agricultural administration headed by the Minister of Agriculture (18 ministers changed during the period of 1919–1932); 2) the administration of land reforms headed by the Main Land Administration, and from 1923 – the Minister of Land Reforms (eight ministers changed during its existence). In 1932, the above-mentioned departments were united into a single Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reforms (the ministry was alternately headed by Severyn Lyudkevych, Bronisław Nakoniecznikow-Klukowski, and Juliusz Poniatovski in the period of 1932–1939).
It is noted that in accordance with the administrative-territorial division of the country (16 voivodeships), management in the field of land relations was divided into central and local. Ukrainian lands within the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth included six voivodeships, namely Lviv (28.4 thousand square km), Volyn (35.8 thousand square km), Lublin, Stanislaviv (16.8 thousand square km), Ternopil (16.2 thousand square km) and Polissia (36.7 thousand sq. km.). Polish voivodeships on Ukrainian lands were formed in accordance with the order of the Council of Ministers dated May 17, 1921. Local administration was divided into government administration and self-government. Local authorities (voivodeships, counties) were responsible for key aspects of life, including land reforms. But it turned out that the March Constitution expanded local self-government, while the April Constitution, on the contrary, limited it. The administration of the voivodeship was headed by the voivode, who was appointed by the president on the proposal of the minister of internal affairs. The voivode acted as a representative of the government and head of the general administration.
He coordinated the activities of the government administration in accordance with the principles of state policy, and also had control functions. He performed his functions with the help of the voivodeship administration, which was divided into departments and subordinate institutions. The district elders were subordinate to the voivode. Like the voivode, the district elder was the representative of the government at the local level (in the county) and the head of the general administration. It ші emphasized that the state-wide policy in the agrarian sphere was carried out locally by the relevant departments of voivodуships, district and county land administrations and commissions. Their competence was largely limited to the central authorities, in particular the relevant Ministry (after the coup d'état of 1926, the authority of local authorities decreased). Local authorities implemented the orders and decrees of the President, the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Agriculture and the normative legal acts adopted as a result of the implementation of land reforms, which were issued to regulate land legal relations. Therefore, their main tasks were to carry out parcelling, consolidation, melioration and liquidation of easements.
Keywords:local authorities, legal regulation, land legal relations, legislation, Galicia, Austria-Hungary.