Maksimova, O.D. Discussion and adoption of the Code of the RSFR on Marriage, Family and Guardianship of 1926 in the Russian Central Executive Committee

Abstract: The article concerns specific features of the legislative technique and principles of the law-making in 1920s, such as the influence of Revolutionary ideology and real situation in the sphere of family relations upon the formation of the new Soviet legislation. One of the most typical examples of active participation of the Soviet lawyers, delegates and common people in the law-making process is their participation in the discussion of the draft Code of the RSFR on Marriage, Family and Guardianship of 1926 (hereinafter, the Code). The author analyzed a large amount of stenographic materials of the RCEC, casting light upon the discussion and adoption of the 2nd Code on marriage and family in Russia – the Code of the RSFR on Marriage, Family and Guardianship of 1926. The contradictory character of legislative activities in the mid-1920s was due to the influence of some theoretical ideologists of law, who wished to see the revolutionary character in the novelties in the Russian law as a manifestation of its new historical nature. As the practice of the draft studies of the Code shows, in 1925-26 the workers wishes for the recognition of the de-facto marriage, while the peasants wanted marriages to be duly registered. The main reason for which the Soviet legislators have recognized de-facto marriages in the mid-1920s was the absence of social and legal guarantees for women and children when the marriage was not registered officially.

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