Problems of Soviet procedural law enforcement in 1930s.

Abstract

УДК 340.158

The subject. Features of the organization of justice and the quality of procedural law enforcement in the USSR in the 1930s.
The purpose. The determination of historical patterns of judicial enforcement in the USSR in the 1930s and the identification of the causes of the ineffectiveness of the proceedings in this period.
Methodology. The author uses historical legal method, formal legal interpretation of statutes, the method of analysis of judicial statistics.
Results, scope of application. After the criminal law campaigns of the early 1930s the judg-ment in the Soviet Union was in a disturbed condition. The Soviet civil process was almost absolutely eliminated. Tens thousands materials of court cases were lost throughout the Union every year. The courts were extremely busy.
The courts used accusatory approach. The petitions of the accused were almost never solved. Prisoners were not handed copies of the indictments.
During the terror of the old evils of the judicial system worsened, the destruction of the judicial process began. The timeframe for completing cases increased. Almost half of criminal cases in case of complaint (appeal) has been revised by the higher courts. The courts again applied the simplified procedure.
At the end of the 1930s the procedural regulation of the judicial work was the duty of People's Commissariat of Justice of the USSR and of the Supreme Court of the USSR. USSR Supreme Court continued to take decisions in litigation in the plenums. The Boards of Su-preme Court examines cases influencing law of practice.
The quality of judgment by the Supreme Courts of the Republics of Soviet Union in the late 1930s did not change significantly in comparison with the previous period. This was due to constant staff turnover and low level of qualification of judges. The Supreme Courts of the Republics had no Plenum, so they could influence law of practice by the rulings of of the Boards. These rulings were extremely ignorant in many republics. The low quality of staff in the regional courts led to numerous errors.

The role of statistics in assessing the quality of the judiciary increased.
One of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the proceedings can be considered as bad organization of work of the courts. So, due to the negligence of secretaries, in some regions up to 50 % of the cases appointed for consideration were sabotaged. Low qualification of judges often led to comical or controversial resolution of cases.
Conclusions. Timid attempts of the Supreme bodies of justice to rehabilitate civil and criminal proceedings in the mid 1930s were frustrated during the campaign of the Great Terror in 1936-1938 years. The cycle of rule of law (1933-1936) was replaced by a new cycle of lawlessness. Since 1938 the authorities began to make efforts to restore normal proceedings.
The authors distinguish the following main reasons of inefficient work of judicial bodies of the USSR in 1930s: the low qualification of the judges, the dependence of courts on local and Central government, the inability to normally perform some judicial acts, not satisfactory logistical support of court activities, the noisy and senseless political campaigns, unleashed by Stalin.