Legal History
Imperial Russian Legal Reforms: The Judicial Reform of 1864 and Speransky's Codification
The imperial period of Russian legal history witnessed some of the most ambitious legal reforms in the country’s history. The Judicial Reform of 1864, the codification of laws undertaken by …
Post-Soviet Legal Reform (1991–Present)
The 1993 Constitution and the Collapse of Soviet Institutions The dissolution of the USSR in December 1991 left the Russian Federation without a functioning legal system adequate for democracy and a …
Russian Legal History: 19th–20th Centuries
The 19th and 20th centuries witnessed the most dramatic transformations in Russian legal history: the comprehensive codification of Russian law under Mikhail Speransky, the Great Reforms of Alexander …
Russian Legal History: 9th–18th Centuries
Russian legal history from the 9th to the 18th centuries traces the evolution from customary tribal law through the first written codifications of Kyivan Rus’ to the elaborate absolutist legal …
Soviet Legal Theory and Practice
The Bolshevik Abolition of the Tsarist Legal System The Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917 initiated the most radical legal transformation in modern history: the complete abolition of the …
The Soviet Legal System: Socialist Legality, Show Trials, and Gorbachev's Reform
The Soviet legal system evolved through several distinct phases, from the revolutionary rejection of pre-revolutionary law to the establishment of a comprehensive legal framework under the doctrine of …