Soviet law

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 Revolution of October 1917 and was adopted by many Communist states (see below) following the Second World War.

Soviet Law had many of the characteristics of civil-law systems, including similar rules of procedure and legal methodologies, although it was distinguishable from other legal systems by the influences of state ownership of the means of production, the power of the Communist Party, the ties between the legal system and national economic planning, the lack of a distinction between civil and criminal law, and the idea that the underlying purpose of the law was for restructuring society and advancing the nation towards communism.

History and influence of Soviet Law

The legal system of the Soviet Union was the principal model followed by other members of the Socialist family of legal systems (Mongolia, People's Republic of China, eastern Europe, Cuba and Vietnam being the most notable). The system was developed after the 1917 Russian Revolution, with origins in the 10th Century Kievan Rus and influence from Byzantine secular and canon law, and of Roman law due to the civil-law tradition of Western Europe.

In 1918, the Soviet authorities formally repealed all Tsarist legislation and began to establish a socialist system pointing towards communism. Socialist law was based on the writing of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who had proposed several general guidelines which were adopted by the architects of the new system. First, the new legal system should eliminate the political power of the bourgeoisie; second, law should be the instrument of the state, and 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 achieve the communist social system.

The Structure of a Soviet Court

Due to Soviet Law lacking a civil-law background, it did not provide for an adversary system, in which a plaintiff and defendant argued before a neutral judge. Court proceedings in the Soviet Union instead included a judge, a procurator, a defense attorney and two people's assessors, and allowed for free participation by the judge. This same system was used for all cases, due to the aforementioned lack of distinction betwen civil and criminal law.

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 high 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 the use of an interpreter. Although most hearings were open to the public, hearings could be held privately, if the Soviet Government deemed it necessary.