Historia prawa radzieckiego 1917-1991. Krótki kurs

Abstract

The Bolshevik authorities rejected old Russian law totally and decided to make new laws. They were based on "revolutionary consciousness" and on "revolutionary conscience". In 1917 the main, leading idea of new laws was that there is no need to stabilize new laws, because it should be developed in a very dynamie way. According to these views new laws should be made by decrees and by judges with their "revolutionary consciousness". Lenin had a big contempt for law, legal nihilism was one of the most characteristic features of his views. He especially had a contempt for "bourgeois" idea of independence of the judiciary and for justice. Soviet power was controlling all aspects of life, a single man was only an object of this power. Main goal of the dictatorship of Communist party (so called dictatorship of the proletariat) was to destroy everything which, only potentially, could oppose new authorities. Private property was eliminated. At first inheritance law was also eliminated. In this way people were expropriated even for futureę. The decrees from 1917 and the Family Code from 1918 stated secular model of marriage and marital law. Voluntary character of marriage was strongly stressed (they claimed that this is the different from "bourgeois" law) and divorces were very easy to obtain. Legal nihilism, understanding law as a tool in fight against enemies - these elements had big influence on the directions development of Soviet law.