The Spirit of the Laws
The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk or Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host was a 1710 constitutional document written by Hetman Pylyp Orlyk, a Cossack of Ukraine, then within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It established a standard for the separation of powers in government between the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication of Montesquieu's "The Spirit of the Laws". The Constitution limited the executive authority of the hetman, and established a democratically elected Cossack parliament called the General Council. The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk was unique for its period, and was one of the first state constitutions in Europe.