On Valuta Dealings in USSR Territory

In order to improve the procedure for handling valuta valuables in USSR territory, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet decrees:

1. To establish that operations in USSR territory to purchase valuta valuables from organizations and citizens as well as to sell such to them, is the exclusive right of the State Bank of the USSR. Other organizations may engage in such operations only when commissioned to do so by the State Bank. Valuta valuables comprise:     

The Right of Citizens to Appeal Acts by Officials to Courts

The increased role of the courts and enlarged judicial protection of citizens' rights enunciated in the USSR Constitution constitute a further development of Soviet socialist democracy. As we know, the notion of appealing to courts the acts of administrators was propounded by the founders of Marxism-Leninism themselves. (1) In the USSR, the foundations of the institution of judicial supervision of the functioning of the executive were established in the earliest years of Soviet power and were developed in the decree of the Central Executive Committee (TsIK) and Council of People's Commissars of April 11, 1937 - establishing judicial supervision over the activities of financial bodies in recovering from citizens arrears of federal and local taxes and levies, compulsory salary insurance, and local-option taxation - and in the Statute on Elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR affirmed by decree of the USSR TsIK of July 9, 1937, granting citizens the right to appeal to courts decisions of executive committees of soviets on refusal to make corrections in lists of voters. (2) This institution was subsequently developed in the Principles of Civil Procedure of the USSR and Union Republics and the corresponding codes of the union republics establishing procedural rules for trial by courts of cases arising out of relationships at administrative law.     

The Russian Diaspora in the Baltic Countries

The Constitution of the USSR is the basis for the further improvement and development of all branches of law. One of the most important lines of development of the political system of Soviet society is the strengthening of the legal foundation for the affairs of government and society (Article 9, Constitution of the USSR). This provision expresses the need for further elevating the role of law and strengthening legality in the developed socialist society. (1)     

Elections to the USSR Academy of Sciences

25 December 1984: The General Assembly of the USSR Academy of Sciences elected the following to the Department of Philosophy and Law:

Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of State and Law of the USSR Academy of Sciences V. N. Kudriavtsev;     

The Standing Committees and the Ministries

The 23rd Congress of the CPSU posed the task of enhancing the role of the supreme Soviets and defined the principal directions to be followed in solving this task. The most important of them are the further improvement in the activity of the standing committees [postoiannye komissii], which contribute to the development of socialist democracy, the improvement in the work of the supreme Soviets and the agencies of state administration, and the activization of deputies. At the first session of the seventh Supreme Soviet [sed'mogo sozyva] of the USSR, the report by N. V. Podgorny, Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, "On Organizing the Standing Committees of the Soviet of the Union and the Soviet of Nationalities," emphasized the major role of the standing committees in social and economic development and expressed confidence that their functioning would promote the fulfillment of the tasks facing the country. (1) The seventh supreme Soviets of the USSR and of the union republics carried out a number of practical measures to implement the instructions of the party to increase the role of the standing committees.     

The Competence of the Economic Council of an Economic District and of its Individual Members

In accordance with articles 3 and 4 of the Law on Further Improvement of the Organization of Management of Industry and Construction, adopted May 10, 1957, (1) an economic council of an economic district is a collegial administrative agency. In this regard it differs from other administrative agencies of special competence: ministries, departments, the state production committees of the USSR Council of Ministers, and the state committees of the USSR State Planning Committee for branches of industry, which manage the enterprises and organizations under their jurisdiction in accordance with the principle of one-man management.     

At Lake Baikal

The Central Committee of the Communist Party, subsequent to the original publication of the following article and the January 1969 decree of the USSR Council of Ministers, "On Measures for the Preservation and Rational Use of the Natural Ecologies of the Lake Baikal Basin," added its authority to that of the USSR Council of Ministers in a joint decree published by the Soviet press on September 24, 1971. The decree, titled "On Supplementary Measures to Assure the Rational Use and Preservation of the Natural Resources of the Lake Baikal Basin," ordered a wide range of environmental protection measures, including the following which have special relevance to the article translated below:

— the ministries and agencies using the Baikal area's natural resources, as well as the USSR Academy of Sciences, are to accelerate development of measures to create a water protection zone and water use rules;

— the Ministry of the Pulp and Paper Industry was ordered to "complete fully" the construction of purification equipment at the Baikal'sk Cellulose Factory by the end of 1971;

— the same ministry was to assure that equipment be put into operation in 1971 that would use the production wastes of the factory;

— the same ministry was forbidden to put the Selenga Cellulose and Cardboard Combine into operation until "full completion" of the construction of its purification equipment;

— the RSFSR Council of Ministers and individual industrial ministries having plants in the Baikal area were ordered to: (1) verify the construction of purification equipment treating effluent bound for the Selenga River, (2) set deadlines of not later than the end of 1972 for the construction of purification installations in all enterprises subordinate to them, and (3) complete construction by the end of 1973 of municipal purification installations for the wastes of Ulan-Ude, the Buriat Autonomous Republic capital, which has been dumping its untreated sewage into the Selenga River feeding into Lake Baikal;

— the Siberian division of the USSR Academy of Sciences was commissioned to conduct research aimed at organizing the rational use and preservation of the lake area's natural resources;

— the RSFSR Council of Ministers was charged with responsibility for guaranteeing such use and preservation of resources;

— the USSR People's Control Committee was instructed to set up an organizational framework to monitor the effectiveness of environmental efforts in the area and was ordered to make periodic reports to the USSR Council of Ministers on the situation;

— the Buriat, Irkutsk, and Chita party regional committees, the Buriat Republic Council of Ministers, and the Irkutsk and Chita regional soviet executive committees were instructed to intensify their monitoring of environmental measures taken by enterprises and organizations within their territories.     

A High Level of Interfacing: Society,Man, and Nature in the Age of Microelectronics,Information Science,and Biotechnology

Note from the editors of Voprosy filosofii: On 14-15 November 1984 the Scientific Council on the Philosophical and Social Problems of Science and Technology, under the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Sciences, jointly with the Institute of Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences, will hold an All-Union Conference, "Social and Methodological Problems of Scientific and Technical Progress" (Chairman of the Organization Committee: Academician P. N. Fedoseev, Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences).     

Passport examination by a confocal-type laser profile microscope

The author proposes a nondestructive and highly precise method of measuring the thickness of a film pasted on a passport using a confocal-type laser profile microscope. The effectiveness of this method in passport examination is demonstrated. A confocal-type laser profile microscope is used to create profiles of the film surface and film–paper interface; these profiles are used to calculate the film thickness by employing an algorithm developed by the author. The film thicknesses of the passport samples—35 genuine and 80 counterfeit Japanese passports—are measured nondestructively. The intra-sample standard deviation of the film thicknesses of the genuine and counterfeit Japanese passports was of the order of 1 μm The intersample standard deviations of the film thicknesses of passports forged using the same tools and techniques are expected to be of the order of 1 μm. The thickness values of the films on the machine-readable genuine passports ranged between 31.95 μm and 36.95 μm. The likelihood ratio of this method in the authentication of machine-readable Japanese genuine passports is 11.7. Therefore, this method is effective for the authentification of genuine passports. Since the distribution of the film thickness of all forged passports was considerably larger than the accuracy of this method, this method is considered effective also for revealing the relation among the forged passports and acquiring proof of the crime.     

Change in Court Procedure in divorce Cases

On December 10, 1965, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet adopted a decree entitled "On Certain Changes in Court Procedure in Hearing Divorce Cases," which states:

"1. to establish that decisions in divorce cases shall be issued by district (or city) people's courts.     

Edict of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR

In consequence of the regular commission by A. D. Sakharov of acts casting discredit upon him as a decorated individual, and in the light of numerous proposals from the Soviet public, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, on the basis of Article 40 of the "General Statute on Orders, Medals, and Titles of Honor of the USSR," decrees     

略论晚清政府关于来华外国人内地游历的执照制度

晚清时期,国门初开,护照制度开始实行。一般来说,护照是一个政府控制入境外国人的最基本、最有效的行政手段,本文拟对晚清政府关于来华外国人所持游历执照的政策作一概述,包括游历执照的分类、主要内容和实施的成效情况。此种游历执照,亦称"护照",但与现代意义上的"护照"有很大区别,是专门注明前往内地游历的通行证件,也起证明持照人身份的作用。     

Toward a Methodology for the Science of Administration

1. The need for a "systems approach" to study of the machinery of state administration. It is no longer news to anyone that study and discovery of optimal variants for the organization and functioning of the system of agencies of state administration in the USSR are a pressing, paramount task of the science of administration.     

About Each of Us and all of Us Together

Demographers are celebrating: the "Statistika" Press has published the collection Population of the USSR. 1973 [Naselenie SSSR. 1973]. Now a great deal of information that is important not only to demographers, and that was previously published in part in Vestnik statistiki, general statistical handbooks, and the seven-volume Results of the USSR Census of 1970 [Itogi Vsesoiuznoi perepisi 1970 goda], has appeared within a single set of covers. This is the first such collection since the war.     

Editor's Note

All of the Soviet codifications referred to by the authors of Forensic Psychiatry have been translated into English, as follows:

Criminal Law

Fundamentals of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and Union Republics, and Fundamentals of Criminal Procedure of the USSR and Union Republics: F. J. Feldbrugge, in Law in Eastern Europe, No. 3, under "The Federal Criminal Law of the Soviet Urion" (Z. Szirmai, ed.), A. W. Sythoff, Leyden, 1959; George H. Hanna, in Fundamentals of Soviet Criminal Legislation, the Judicial System, and Criminal Court Procedure, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1960; in Current Digest of the Soviet Press, March 4, 1959.     

Juvenile Delinquency in the USSR: A Criminological Survey

This article examines some statistical data concerning juvenile delinquency in the USSR, analyzes social and demographic characteristics of juvenile delinquents, and describes special methods of preventing and combating juvenile delinquency in the USSR.

In those cases when the article does not contain direct references to the source of the data, the author cites the results of various research studies which are in his possession.     

Duels,Real and Fancied

The discussion on "The Defense Counsel: Rights and Problems" has produced serious interest in the legal community. Today a prominent jurist, Mikhail Petrovich Maliarov, State Legal Counselor 1st Class, participates in the "LG Discussion Club." Maliarov is the author of many articles and the coauthor and editor of a number of law textbooks. He presently holds a responsible post in the USSR Procuracy.     

Delimitation Of Competence Between USSR Agencies and Republic Agencies in the Field of Economic Guidance

The question of the scientific bases for distribution of powers [polnomochii] between the USSR and its entities [sub'ekty], the union republics, in the field of economic guidance is of political, practical, and theoretical importance.     

Scientific-Methodological Conference of USSR Supreme Court

The Scientific Consultative Council under the USSR Supreme Court has held a scientific-methodological conference. It was in preparation for a long time. As early as July 1965, the journal Sotsialisticheskaia zakonnost' informed its readers of the forthcoming conference and published an article by S. Radzhabov, "Improve the Administration of the Courts" [Sovershenstvovat' sudebnoe upravlenie], and another by S. Komissarov, "The Supervisory Powers of the USSR Supreme Court Need Improving" [Nadzornye polnomochiia Verkhovnogo Suda Soiuza SSR nuzhdaiutsia v sover-shenstvovanii]. In August of last year a report was published of a round-table conference conducted by the editors and devoted to the effectiveness of criminal punishment. Subsequently, the journals Sotsialisticheskaia zakonnost', Sovetskaia iustitsiia, and Radians'ke pravo have been publishing, in each of their issues, articles, surveys, and proposals on improving the functioning of the courts and increasing the effectiveness of criminal punishment.     

Codification of Legislation on Physical Culture,Sports, and Tourism

The USSR Constitution and the constitutions of union and autonomous republics are the basis of all normative material in the area of physical culture, sports, and tourism. They consider physical culture, sports, and tourism among the most important areas of state activity and define their essence, significance, content, and particulars under the conditions of developed socialism. The interconnected cultural-educational function and the social development function defined in the chapter on "Social Development and Culture" of the USSR Constitution regulate the special purpose of physical culture, sports, and tourism as components of these functions.¹ The goals and tasks of physical culture and sports under present conditions are also revealed in the process of the state's realization of economic, organizational, and social service functions. Physical culture, sports, and tourism are thus components of four interconnected functions of the Soviet state that are highly relevant to general culture, health promotion, education, upbringing, economics, defense, and patriotism.