Sevryukov, D.S. The courts of general jurisdiction and executive branch of government in the Soviet Russia in 1917-1936: normative regulation and legal practice.

Abstract: Based upon the large amount of normative materials and archive data the author evaluates the problem of the relations between the courts and local executive bodies in the first two decades of the existence of the RSFSR. It is noted that starting with 1917 the state departed from the previously existing principle of pre- Revolutionary Russia that the judges should be independent from the executive branch. It is shown that the active interference of local executive bodies into the work of courts, and the active role of the executive committees in the procedure of assigning and resignation of judges of the courts of the general jurisdiction lead to the lower efficiency of court work, staff turnover and the courts becoming accountable to the executive branch. The author makes a conclusion that throughout the period in question the problem of independence of the judicial branch of government from the executive branch of government remained unsolved in spite of all of the efforts of the Soviet Government taken in order to limit the influence of the executive committees, which was due to the specific features of the Soviet administrative model.

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