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 market economy. The Soviet legal order had been designed for a planned economy and a one-party state, and its categories, institutions, and personnel were ill-suited to the post-Soviet transition. The crisis of legal authority deepened through 1992–1993 as President Boris Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet (the legislature inherited from the Soviet period) struggled for control over the constitutional order.
The constitutional crisis culminated in October 1993 when Yeltsin ordered the military to shell the White House (the parliament building), leading to the surrender of the Supreme Soviet deputies. The violent resolution of the crisis demonstrated the fragility of constitutional government in post-Soviet Russia and the willingness of the executive to use force to resolve political disputes. Yeltsin then imposed a presidential system through a referendum on December 12, 1993, in which a new constitution was approved by a reported 58.4 percent of voters.
The 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation established Russia as a “democratic federal rule-of-law state with a republican form of government” (Article 1). The Constitution declares that “the individual, his rights and freedoms are the highest value” (Article 2), that the state is founded on the principle of separation of powers (Article 10), and that international law and international treaties are part of the Russian legal system (Article 15). The President is the head of state and the guarantor of the Constitution, with broad powers including the appointment of the Prime Minister (with the consent of the State Duma), the right to dissolve the Duma, the power to issue binding decrees, and command of the armed forces.
The Constitution created a strong presidential system — sometimes characterised as “super-presidential” — in which the President exercises substantial independent authority and is not responsible to the legislature. The bicameral Federal Assembly consists of the State Duma (450 seats, elected by proportional representation) and the Federation Council (representing the constituent entities of the Federation). The Duma’s powers are limited: it confirms the Prime Minister, passes laws, and can initiate impeachment proceedings, but it cannot dismiss the government or call early presidential elections.
Judicial Reform and the Constitutional Court
The post-Soviet judicial reform was the most ambitious in Russian history since the Judicial Reform of 1864. The 1993 Constitution established the basic principles of judicial independence: Article 118 declares that justice is administered only by the courts, Article 120 provides that judges are independent and subject only to the Constitution and federal law, Article 121 guarantees irremovability of judges, and Article 122 guarantees their immunity.
The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation was established by the 1993 Constitution and the Federal Constitutional Law on the Constitutional Court of 1994. The Court, composed of nineteen judges appointed by the Federation Council on the nomination of the President, exercises abstract and concrete constitutional review — the power to declare federal laws, presidential decrees, and regional legislation unconstitutional. The Court’s early jurisprudence established important protections for fundamental rights, including decisions on the constitutionality of the Chechen war, the protection of property rights, and the limitation of retroactive criminal legislation.
The Court’s independence, however, has been progressively constrained. The 1994 law was amended in 2001, 2007, and 2010 to increase the President’s control over judicial appointments and to limit the Court’s jurisdiction. The 2020 constitutional amendments substantially restructured the Court, reducing its role in constitutional adjudication and increasing the President’s influence over its composition. The Court has rarely invalidated legislation that the Kremlin strongly supported, and its decisions in politically sensitive cases — including the constitutionality of the 2020 amendments — have been deferential to executive authority.
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (merged with the Supreme Arbitrazh Court in 2014) is the highest judicial body for civil, criminal, administrative, and commercial cases. The Law on the Status of Judges (1992, revised 2002) establishes the principles of judicial independence, but the judiciary remains subject to informal influence through the Judicial Qualification Collegia, which control judicial appointments, promotions, and discipline, and through the Judicial Department, which administers the courts and operates under the authority of the Supreme Court.
The New Civil Code (Parts I–IV)
The post-Soviet codification of civil law was the most ambitious legislative project in post-communist Europe. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation (Grazhdansky Kodeks Rossiyskoy Federatsii) was enacted in four parts between 1994 and 2006, replacing the Soviet civil codes with a comprehensive modern codification based primarily on the German Pandectist system.
Part I (1994) contains the General Provisions (legal persons, capacity, transactions, representation, limitation periods), the Law of Property (ownership, possession, easements), and the General Part of the Law of Obligations (formation, performance, and termination of obligations). Part I establishes the fundamental principles of post-Soviet private law: freedom of contract, inviolability of property, and the prohibition of arbitrary interference in private affairs.
Part II (1996) governs specific types of contractual obligations — sale, gift, lease, loan, mandate, commission, agency, deposit, insurance — and non-contractual obligations arising from unjust enrichment and tort. Part II modernised the law of obligations and adapted it to the needs of a market economy.
Part III (2001) regulates inheritance and private international law. Book V on inheritance law recognises freedom of testation, the right to make wills, and the rights of compulsory heirs. Book VI on private international law establishes rules for determining the applicable law in international disputes.
Part IV (2006) regulates intellectual property — copyright, patents, trademarks, industrial designs, and related rights. Part IV consolidated Russia’s intellectual property law into a single code, replacing the fragmented Soviet-era legislation, and brought Russian IP law into alignment with the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
The Civil Code has been extensively amended since its enactment, and its implementation has been uneven. The gap between formal legal norms and enforcement — the problem of “legal nihilism” (pravovoy nigilizm) — has been a persistent challenge. Contract enforcement, protection of minority shareholders, and the independence of the judiciary in commercial cases have all been subjects of continuing concern.
The Criminal Code 1996
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (1996, effective 1997) replaced the 1960 RSFSR Criminal Code and represented a fundamental shift in the philosophy of criminal law. The Code abolished the Soviet principle of analogy and established the principles of legality — nullum crimen sine lege, nulla poena sine lege — as fundamental principles (Article 3). The Code introduced the concept of criminal responsibility of legal persons (though this was limited compared to common law systems), modernised the system of punishments (adding community service, restriction of liberty, and compulsory labour), and reduced the scope of capital punishment.
The Code’s Special Part redefined crimes against the person (homicide, assault, kidnapping, human trafficking) with greater precision than Soviet law, introduced crimes against constitutional rights (obstruction of the electoral process, violations of labour rights, infringement of privacy), and modernised economic crimes (tax evasion, insider trading, money laundering). The Code of Criminal Procedure (2001) introduced adversarial elements, the presumption of innocence, and jury trial for serious offences, though the jury system was subsequently restricted in 2008 for terrorism and national security cases.
The Arbitrazh Court System
The arbitrazh courts — the system of commercial courts inherited from the Soviet period but fundamentally reformed — are a distinctive feature of the post-Soviet legal order. The arbitrazh courts exercise jurisdiction over economic disputes between legal persons and individual entrepreneurs, bankruptcy proceedings, tax disputes, and corporate governance cases. The system is organised in four tiers: the arbitrazh courts of the constituent entities of the Federation (first instance), the appellate arbitrazh courts, the federal arbitrazh courts of the circuits (cassation), and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (as the highest instance for arbitrazh cases).
The arbitrazh courts were merged with the ordinary courts in 2014, when the Supreme Arbitrazh Court was abolished and its functions transferred to a new Supreme Court of the Russian Federation with a separate Collegium for Economic Disputes. The merger was justified as a measure to ensure uniform judicial practice, but critics argued that it reduced the specialisation and independence of commercial adjudication.
The 2020 Constitutional Amendments
The 2020 constitutional amendments, approved in a nationwide referendum held from June 25 to July 1, 2020, with reported 77.9 percent approval on a 67.9 percent turnout, were the most extensive revisions to the 1993 Constitution since its adoption. The amendments, proposed by President Vladimir Putin in January 2020 and rapidly enacted through a legislative process that bypassed the Constitutional Assembly procedure specified in the Constitution, introduced 206 changes to 41 articles.
The most significant amendment reset the presidential term limit, allowing Putin to run for two additional six-year terms after 2024, effectively enabling him to remain President until 2036. The amendment process was justified by the argument that the constitutional change was a “new adoption” of the Constitution, not a mere amendment, and that the term-limit reset should not apply to previous terms — reasoning that critics argued was constitutionally dubious.
The amendments also introduced provisions on supremacy of the Russian Constitution over international law (Article 79), prohibiting the execution of decisions of international bodies that contradict the Russian Constitution — a response to judgments of the European Court of Human Rights. The role of the State Council — an advisory body established by presidential decree in 2000 — was given constitutional status. The amendments introduced provisions on social guarantees (including the indexing of pensions), defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman, and established Russian as the “language of the state-forming people.”
The 2020 amendments completed the consolidation of executive power that has characterised post-Soviet Russian constitutional development. The formal constitutional order of 1993 remains in place, but its operation has been progressively transformed through informal practice, selective enforcement, and constitutional revision. The post-Soviet legal reform thus presents a complex picture of achievement and limitation: the formal legal framework for a market economy and a democratic state has been created, but the gap between law on the books and law in action remains wide, and the independence of legal institutions from political control remains contested.