Maksimova O.D. Basic Principles of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics in 1924: Discussion and adoption of amendments to the Central Executive Committee of the USSR

Abstract: This article discusses the process of discussion and adoption of the Basic Principles of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics in 1924 by the USSR Central Executive Committee. The author also examines the amendments to the Basic Principles of Criminal Legislation of the USSR and the Union republics made in 1926-1927. The main problems that have been discussed by the CEC during the meetings include the formulation of objectives of the Soviet criminal law and the problem of differentiation of the subject of legal regulation in the sphere of criminal law in a federal state. The article uses legalistic, historical and comparative legal methods that allowed reconstructing the process of discussion and adoption of the All-Union criminal law in 1924 and making amendments to it in 1926-1927. During the discussion of project of the studied law in USSR Central Executive Committee, there was a clash of two positions: supporters of the preservation of legislative powers of the Union republics and the proponents of a more or less developed Criminal Legislation of the USSR. The first point of view was supported by the Presidium of the CEC, the Constitutional Commission established by the USSR CEC, the Chambers of CEC, and especially the Council of Nationalities. The Supreme Court of the USSR and the People’s Commissars of the USSR supported the second position. The dispute, in fact, was of political rather than legal nature, and concerned the actual problems of the time, namely the amount of authority of the USSR. To overcome the strong resistance of the CEC members of the USSR – regional leaders at meetings of the USSR Central Executive Committee in 1924 was not fully succeeded. The adoption of First Principles of the Criminal legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics in 1924 is a clear example of the complexity of creating a uniform law in a federal state. Incidentally, throughout the entire history the USSR, there was no common criminal law.

Keywords: