P.L. Polyansky

We consider peasant’s custom as a source of law during the period of founding of Soviet State and Civil War (1917–1921). We proved that in this period central and local Soviet authorities used pre-revolutionary custom in adjudication of division of peasant’s property.

The article is devoted to the survey carried out by the Rabkrin (Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection) in relation to the courts, police and the public prosecutor’s office in 1923–1927. The author introduces new archive materials on the results of the revision. We consider problems of relief of people’s courts from consideration of some cases and legislation about it. The author concludes that the survey and the initiatives of the Rabkrin had a significant impact on the regulation of issues of jurisdiction of the courts, as well as on the Soviet criminal and procedural legislation of the NEP period.

This article is devoted to the realization of Rabkrin’s proposals to unload the people’s courts and to create new forms of involving citizens in the work of the court and law-enforcement authorities in 1923–1927. The author introduces new materials about the history of creating of comrades’ courts. The question of creating administrative and legal sections of local Soviet bodies is also being considered.

This article devoted to Rabkrin’s (Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection) proposals to change the norms of the Soviet civil and criminal procedure in the end of 1920th. New materials are introduced that relate to the content of the Rabkrin's initiatives, as well as their implementation. The author concludes that Rabkrin’s inspection is very useful for correcting shortcomings of soviet pre-trial and trial proceeding. The issue about the role of People’s Commissariat of Justice of the RSFSR in reforming procedural legislation is considered.

The article discusses a document adopted in the development of the norms of the first Soviet Code on marriage and family. This is the instruction of the People’s Commissariat for Social Security in 1919 on the organization and procedure for the activities of local guardianship authorities. The authors also provide the text of this document. The main objective of the article is to introduce into the scientific circulation a document that was previously almost unknown to historical and legal science. The authors also set out to study the relationship of the instruction in question with the 1918 family Code, in the development of which it was adopted. According to the authors, the implementation of the provisions on guardianship of minors outlined in the instructions was unsuccessful. At the same time, the unrealistic and even utopian nature of certain provisions of the 1918 family Code is especially clearly visible in the study of the problem of implementing the norms of the instruction on guardianship departments. Nevertheless, the authors believe that the studied instruction will allow to re-evaluate the significance of some marriage and family norms of the first years of Soviet power, as well as the views of their creators. For the history of family law, the instruction on the organization and procedure for the activities of the subdivisions of guardianship in 1919 has significant scientific significance. It deserves a scientific introduction and careful scientific study.

Based on various sources, the author of this article explores the process of the emergence of the institution of indeterminate sentences in Soviet legislation. Its American and European roots are revealed, reflected in the legislation of individual countries, discussions on the issue of indeterminate sentences at international conferences and congresses. Also considered is the scientific position of pre-revolutionary Russian scientists in relation to indeterminate sentences. Some of pre-revolutionary scientists were in the public service, first during the Provisional Government, and then in the early Soviet period. In this regard, the author explores the specifics of the personnel of the Central Punitive Department of the People’s Commissariat of Justice in the initial period of its activity. It has been established that a number of prominent pre-revolutionary criminologists could influence the content of Soviet legislation in terms of introducing elements of indeterminate sentences. In this regard, the first normative acts of the Soviet state of the criminal law and correctional labor industries (1918–1921) are analyzed. The author comes to the conclusion that during the period of the formation of the Soviet state in Russia, important prerequisites were formed for fixing the institution of indeterminate sentences in the legislation. The article may be of interest both for historians of law and for specialists in the field of criminal and penitentiary law.