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Law Reform in the Soviet Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2019

Harold J. Berman
Harold J. Berman*
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

The post-Stalin (or, as it is generally referred to by Soviet citizens, post–Beria) regime has already made far–reaching concessions to popular dissatisfaction with the Stalinist system of law and justice, and is preparing still further reforms. To appreciate the significance of this movement, it is necessary to understand the place held by law in the daily lives of Soviet citizens and in the running of the economy. It is a popular misconception outside of the USSR that Soviet law, and especially Soviet courts, are only window dressing to conceal the fact that the Communist Party and the secret police run the country by command and by force.The truth is that although there are certain areas of Soviet life–particularly in top-level politics–where law does not penetrate, there are hosts of problems which are resolved in the judicial process according to general standards declared in statutes and codes.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , April 1956 , pp. 179 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1956

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References

1 Decree of July 10, 1934 [1934] 1 Sob. Uzak. SSSR, No. 36, item 284 and decree of November 5, 1934 [1935] ibid., No. 11, item 84.

2 The January 1956 issue of Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, p. 3, confirms the abolition of the Special Board. The issue reached this country only after this article was in proof.

3 Reference at this point and hereafter is to the Criminal Code of the RSFSR. Art. 58 and other articles mentioned subsequently in this report also appear in the codes of the other republics of the USSR.

4 Code of Criminal Procedure, RSFSR, Arts. 466-73.

5 Ved. Verkh-Sov., No. 15 (8og), item 334, August 17, 1954.

6 Ibid., No. 22 (840), item 425, November 29, 1955.

7 This reduction in severity has been anticipated by the decree of May 13, 1955, eliminating existing criminal penalties for sale by managers of state enterprises of surplus equipment. Ved. Verkh.Sov., No. 8 (826), item 193, June 8, 1955.

8 Decree of April 30, 1954, Ved. Verkh.Sov., No. 11 (805), item 221, May 30, 1954.

9 [Professor Strogovich has been arguing this point for years. Just prior to Stalin's death he was silenced by sharp criticism, but he resumed his campaign after Stalin had died.-Ed..

10 Code of Criminal Procedure, RSFSR, Art. 349.

11 Ibid., Art. 37.

12 Decree of August 15,1955, Ved. Verkh.Sov., No. 15 (833) item 303, September 3, 1955.

13 Decree of May 24, 1955, sec. 52, Ved. Verkh.Sov., No. 9 (827), item 222, June 20, 1955.