This book is an unconventional reappraisal of Soviet law: a field that is ripe for re-evaluation, now that it is clear of Cold War cobwebs; and, as this book shows, one that is surprisingly topical and newly compelling. Scott Newton argues here that the Soviet order was a work of law. Drawing on a wide range of sources – including Russian-language Soviet statues and regulations, jurisprudence, legal theory, and English-language ‘legal Kremlinology’ – this book analyses the central significance of law in the design and operation of Soviet economic, political, and social institutions. In arguing that it was an exemplary, rather than aberrant, case of the uses to which law was put in twentieth-century industrialised societies, Law and the Making of the Soviet World: The Red Demiurge provides an insightful account of both the significance of modern law in the Soviet case and the significance of the Soviet case for modern law.

In this book, based on the Arthur Goodhart Lectures, 1982, John Hazard interprets the practice of Soviet law across the entire range of its functions -from the drafting of constitutions and the enforcement of economic policy to the suppression of religion and the control of family life - Professor Hazard picks out two main themes. He emphasises the role of law in the continued effort of policy-makers in the Soviet Communist Party to shape society according to the ideological dictates of Party policy and to mould a new 'Soviet man'. Secondly he explores the growing importance of legal draftsmen in the formation of political and ideological policy, as the established generation of 'generalist' administrators faces increasing challenges to its authority from a growing technocratic and scientific community. Throughout, the development of the law in the Soviet Union is compared and contrasted with Western experience in a manner easily comprehensible to the layman. Written in a relaxed and readable manner, this book will be of interest to a wide audience among both students of law and scholars interested in Soviet society.

Product Description: Book by Ioffe, Olimpiad

Product Description: In this book, based on the Arthur Goodhart Lectures, 1982, John Hazard interprets the practice of Soviet law across the entire range of its functions -from the drafting of constitutions and the enforcement of economic policy to the suppression of religion and the control of family life - Professor Hazard picks out two main themes...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

"The death of Joseph Stalin in 1953 opened a new era in the history of Soviet law. Within a brief period during which the succession finally was settled on Nakita Khrushchev, Stalin's system of government and his approach were denounced by Khrushchev before a Congress of the Communist Party, and legal specialists took up their pens to implement the new policy. Since that time the legal scholars of the West have followed events to determine whether significant developments necessitate a re-evaluation of the nature and course of Soviet law."

Soviet Studies, Law