Soviet Criminal Law and Procedure: The R.S.F.S.R. Codes (Soviet Research Centre Studies): The RSFSR Codes, Second Edition: 50 (Russian Research Center Studies) - Hardcover

Berman, HJ

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674826361 ISBN 13: 9780674826366

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1974

Synopsis

There is no better key to the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet social system than Soviet law. Here in English translation is the Criminal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure of the largest of the fifteen Soviet Republics―containing the basic criminal law of the Soviet Union and virtually the entire criminal law applicable in Russia―and the Law on Court Organization. These two codes and the Law, which went into effect o January 1, 1961, are among the chief products of the Soviet law reform movement which began after Stalin’s death, and are a concrete reflection of the effort to establish legality and prevent a return to Stalinist arbitrariness and terror.

In a long introductory essay Harold Berman, a leading authority on Soviet law, stresses the extent to which the codes are expressed in authentic soviet legal language, based in part on the pre-Revolutionary Russian past but oriented to Soviet concepts, conditions, and policies. He outlines the historical background of the new codes, with a detailed listing of the major changes reflected in them, interprets their significance, places them within the system of Soviet law as a whole, and discusses some of the principal similarities and differences between Soviet criminal law and procedure and that of Western Europe and of the United States.

About this title

About the Author

Harold J. Berman was Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University and Ames Professor of Law, Emeritus, at Harvard University.

From the Back Cover

A second edition has been made necessary by the large number of important changes in the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure introduced since July 3, 1965, the effective date of the first edition. I have taken advantage of the opportunity thus presented to make some changes in the Introduction as well.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1974
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674826361
• ISBN 13: 9780674826366
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 502