Everything about The Law Of The Soviet Union totally explained
The
Law of the Soviet Union—also known as Soviet Law, or
Socialist Law—was the law that developed in the
Soviet Union following the Russian
October Revolution of
1917; modified versions of it were adopted by many
Communist states (see below) following the
Second World War.
Soviet Law had some of the characteristics of
civil law systems, including some similar rules of procedure and legal methodologies.
History and influence of Soviet Law
The legal system of the Soviet Union was the principal model followed by other members of the Soviet family of legal systems (
Mongolia, the
People's Republic of China, the countries of
eastern Europe,
Cuba and
Vietnam being the most notable). This legal system was developed after the Russian Revolution and based on traditional Western civil law, with many elements originating in the Russian legal tradition (going back as far as the
10th century Kievan Rus) and influences from
Byzantine secular and canon law.
In 1917, the Soviet authorities formally repealed all
Tsarist
legislation and began to establish a
socialist system with the final aim of reaching
communism. The vast majority of
Marxist theory concerned itself with matters of politics, economics and sociology, not legislation, and thus "socialist law" had to be built from scratch, using mostly non-Marxist legal theory. A few general guidelines were laid out. First, the new legal system should eliminate the political power and dominance of the
bourgeoisie; second, law should be the instrument of the state and the people, not a restriction to policy-makers; third, law should establish rules of public order which ease the state's transition into socialism and eventually communism; and fourth, law should educate citizens in how they can help to build a communist social system. This is the basis on which Soviet Law was constructed.
Constitutional law
Court structure
Soviet Law didn't use an
adversarial system, in which a
plaintiff and
defendant argue before a neutral
judge. Instead,
court proceedings in the Soviet Union included a judge, a
procurator, a defense
attorney and two
people's assessors, and allowed for free participation by the judge.
Judges kept legal technicalities to a minimum; the court's stated purpose was to find the truth, rather than to protect legal rights. Other aspects of Soviet Law more closely resembled the Anglo-Saxon system. In theory, all citizens were equal before the law—defendants could appeal to a higher court if they believed their sentence to be too harsh. However, the procurator could also appeal if he/she considered the sentence to be too lenient. Soviet Law also guaranteed defendants the right to legal representation, and the right to be tried in their native language, or to use an interpreter. Although most hearings were open to the public, hearings could also be held privately, if the
Soviet Government deemed it necessary.
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