Proposals Regarding the Laws on Housing-Construction Cooperatives

The fundamental legal document regulating the activity of the housing-construction cooperative in the RSFSR is the Model Charter approved by decree No. 1143 of the RSFSR Council of Ministers, October 2, 1965 (SP RSFSR, 1965, no. 23, item 144). As a consequence of the broad scope of cooperative housing construction, life has posed many new questions that are not regulated by the Model Charter or require changes in provisions of the law. Some of its provisions are actually in conflict with the prevailing legislation. For example, Point 3 states that the charter of a cooperative adopted by a meeting shall be recorded in the housing administration (or department) of municipal services of the executive committee of the local soviet, whereas, according to Article 19d of the RSFSR law "On the District Soviet of Working People's Deputies of the RSFSR" and Article 16 of the RSFSR law "On the City and Urban District Soviet of Working People's Deputies of the RSFSR," recording of a charter is by the executive committee. Point 7 of the charter forbids government enterprises from participating with their funds in the construction of housing by a cooperative, while in accordance with the joint decree of the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers (Pravda, September 18, 1977), the councils of ministers of the union republics have the right to permit the heads of state farms and other state enterprises in agriculture, water-control enterprises, and the Agricultural Equipment Association, located in rural places, to make good, under certain conditions, up to 50 percent of the state credit issued to equipment operators who are members of housing-construction cooperatives.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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     

The Legal Service of an Economic Branch Ministry

In December 1970, the CPSU Central Committee and the USSR Council of Ministers adopted a decree "On Improving Legal Work in the Economy" (1), which is of key importance to further developing and improving that work. The decree notes that the significance of legal work in the economy has increased under the conditions of implementing the economic reform, expanding the rights of enterprises, ministries, and agencies, enlarging the role of business contracts, and effecting measures to improve the methods of leadership in government and the economy.     

The Staff Legal Adviser

The staff legal adviser [iuriskonsul't] is the individual who stands watch over the observance of socialist legality at the enterprise, in the institution, and at the executive committee of the local soviet. … He is constantly consulted on practical questions of the law. He is the defender of the interests of the enterprise or agency before courts and in arbitration proceedings. … But how does the legal adviser carry out the tasks he faces? The editors of our journal decided to turn to two heads of legal departments — one at an enterprise and one in a ministry — with the request to reply to a number of questions. We publish their replies below.     

The Standing Committees: Techniques of Monitoring

Note from the editors of Sovety deputatov trudiashchikhsia: Continuing the study of the functioning of Soviets, personnel of the USSR Academy of Sciences' Institute of State and Law looked into the operations of local organs of power in the Latvian SSR. Jointly with practical workers in the field, they prepared a number of scholarly recommendations, including proposals to improve the techniques of monitoring [kontrol'] by the standing committees of district and city Soviets.     

Informing the Population About the Activity of State Agencies

Under the conditions of developed socialism, the general problem of informing the population, and that of its knowledge about matters of state and law in particular, becomes increasingly more pertinent. "The development of socialist democracy," said L. I. Brezhnev at a meeting with voters of the Bauman Electoral District in Moscow on June 10, 1966, "demands the solution of many problems that the Party has placed on the order of business." One of these tasks is "providing fuller information to the people about everything happening within the country and on the world scene, and increasing publicity [glasnost'] about the work of the agencies of Soviet government." The Communist Party associates improvement of socialist democracy particularly with the level of society's information "about the policies of the Party and state." (1) Therefore, the Soviet government pays much attention to the solution of questions associated with informing the citizenry about the work of governmental agencies and also about their regulation by law. Thus, for example, in the RSFSR law "On the District Soviet of Working People's Deputies of the RSFSR" (June 29, 1971), we read about the responsibility of the executive committee to inform the population about questions placed on the order of business of the soviet (Article 33), to bring decisions of the district soviet to the knowledge of the citizens (Article 38), and to report on its work at meetings of the working population and at citizens' places of employment (Article 55). Article 93 reads: "The district soviet of working people's deputies is responsible for informing the population about its functioning. …" Presidiums of the supreme Soviets of union and autonomous republics monitor observation of provisions of the law, assuring that the population will be widely informed on the work of state agencies. (2) In this connection, examination of the question of the content and forms whereby the population of the USSR becomes informed about the activity of state agencies is of interest.     

The Subject of Soviet Criminology

The question of the subject of Soviet criminology remains in dispute to this day. The authors of the present article, who initially considered criminology a component of criminal law, (1) have now arrived at a different conclusion. Reviews of the textbook Soviet Criminology [Sovetskaia kriminologiia] noted, as one of its shortcomings, a vague solution of the question of the subject of this science. (2) Considering this, as well as the fact that the subject of a science is among the most important questions, we have decided to offer certain of our thoughts on this subject.     

The Role of Public Opinion in Improving Legislation in the Fight Against Crime

In the decree of the CPSU Central Committee "On improving work in the maintenance of law and order and strengthening the fight against crime," the need for increasing public involvement in the fight against crime and other antisocial behavior is pointed out. (1) The role and functions of public involvement increase significantly under conditions of developed socialism. Its effect as a subjective factor is directly dependent on the qualitative condition, structure, and content of public consciousness and its component parts. Therefore, not only does multi-faceted study of public consciousness as an integrative factor of the social organism as a whole have important theoretical and practical import but so also does clarification of the inner content of public consciousness and of the characteristics of the mechanism of the formation of its separate components, for example, of public opinion, which plays a significant role in the policy of the Soviet state with regard to the eradication of crime. (2)     

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)     

A Collaboration,Not a Duel

In a number of articles published in LG, advocates take on the appearance, in readers' eyes, of lone fighters for truth, law, and justice in the courts. There is no other party on whom a defendant can depend for defense of his legal rights. The picture that emerges is that of the defense counsel as an "adversary" in the case, conducting a struggle over the defendant with another "adversary," the procurator, the state prosecutor. In such a situation, the latter naturally seeks to incriminate, to bring about punishment of the defendant. And for him this is, after all, easy, for behind him is the entire powerful system of the procuracy with all its organizational and technical resources!     

On Promulgation of the Statute on Preliminary Confinement Under Guard

The Supreme Soviet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics orders:

Article 1. Promulgation of the Statute on Preliminary Confinement Under Guard and that it go into effect as of November 1, 1969.     

Technical Servicing and Guaranteed Repair of Household Equipment and Appliances

In the broad program of further socioeconomic development of the country advanced by the Twenty-fifth Congress of the CPSU, there is provision for a considerable increase in manufacture of cultural and household commodities and in the volume of sales of household services to the population. In his report to the congress, L. I Brezhnev emphasized: "A rise in the well-being of the working population is indivisible from more complete satisfaction of the population's demand for various commodities and services." In this regard maximal satisfaction of citizens' needs for technical servicing and guaranteed repair of household appliances and improvement in legal regulation of relations between industrial enterprises and service industries in providing these services are of great importance. In accordance with the decree of the USSR Council of Ministers "On Measures to Improve the Organization of Repair of Household Equipment and Appliances Belonging to Citizens," dated June 4, 1974 (1), the State Arbitration of the USSR Council of Ministers issued, by degrees of March 31, 1975 (2), the following normative acts: (a) a model contract for technical servicing and repair of cultural and household products during the period covered by the guarantee; (b) a model contract for technical servicing of TVs and radiophonographs and for the repair of household TV-radiophonographs and tape recorders during the period covered by the guarantee; and (c) the Procedure for relations between production associations and enterprises for consumer services [on the one hand] and associations or enterprises manufacturing household equipment and appliances [on the other hand] with respect to their technical servicing and repair during the guarantee period in the absence of a contract. Let us examine certain pressing problems of regulation of economic relationships by these normative acts.     

Law of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic on the Adoption of the RSFSR Code on Marriage and the Family

The Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic decrees:

Article 1. The RSFSR Code on Marriage and the Family is hereby adopted and shall be put into effect on November 1, 1969.     

The Further Evolution of the State Enterprise as a Legal Entity

The 22nd Congress of the CPSU adopted a new Program for the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and set forth in it a concrete plan for the building of a communist society in the USSR. The CPSU Program envisages as the chief economic task of the next twenty years the establishment of the material and technical base for communism. Effectuation of this vast undertaking also presupposes a further "improvement of the legal norms regulating functions of economic organization, culture and education, and promoting the solution of the tasks of the building of communism and the allround flourishing of the personality." (1)     

The Safeguarding of Socialist Legality By Local Soviets

V. I. Lenin regarded socialist legality as one of the basic principles of the activity of the state, its organs, officials, and citizens, based upon the requirement that the laws be adhered to unswervingly. He persistently emphasized the need "to hold sacred the laws and directives of Soviet power and to make sure that they are carried out by each and all." (1)     

The Defense Lawyer is Called Upon to Defend

The article by G. Z. Anashkin, with which LG began its discussion of current problems confronting the Soviet legal profession, is accurate in its basic content. But the subject of the discussion is so broad that it clearly cannot be exhausted by one or two statements in a newspaper.