Abstract: This article attempts to analyze the theoretical approaches towards regulation of state insurance by various branches of the Soviet law that existed in the legal thought of the XX century. Attention is focused on the state activity aimed at formation of the specialized insurance funds and peculiarities of their use. The article examines the procedure for the formation of state insurance fund, development trends, understanding of the essence and the key role of state insurance in the Soviet period. It is indicated that state insurance in the Soviet period represented the activity of government branches on formation of the specialized monetary funds by means of contributions made by socialist organizations and citizens (policyholders) that were used by the insurance system to compensate for material damage caused by natural disasters, accidents, etc., as well as carried out preventive measures and awareness-raising activity for their prevention. The following conclusions were formulated: in the Soviet period insurance as the legal institution was studied by a range of legal sciences, including the science of financial law; the insurance relations were regulated by several branches of the Soviet law. It is worth noting that the question on the boundaries of such regulation was of ambiguous and debatable nature. For the most part, insurance relations in the Soviet period were regulated by the norms of financial and civil law. The Soviet financial law regulated the relations that arouse in the process of development of state insurance as one of the main types of financial activity of the state. The property relations that established on the basis of implementation of these general terms were of civil nature. The question of sectoral borders is still relevant for many post-Soviet states.