Reforming the Russian Legal System by Gordon B. Smith - 9780521450522

Reforming the Russian Legal SystemAuthor(s): Gordon B. Smith\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9780521450522, 978-0521450522\nSynopsis\nReforming the Russian Legal System is a comprehensive analysis of the forces that are shaping legal reform in the republics of the former USSR. Looking beneath the flow of day-to-day developments, the book examines how traditional indigenous Russian legal values, and the 74-year experience with communism and 'socialist legality' are being combined with Western concepts of justice and due process to forge a new legal consciousness in Russia today. The author provides a broad historical survey of pre-revolutionary and Soviet-era legal developments, which provides a backdrop to the reforms initiated by Gorbachev. Chapters analysing constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, the Procuracy, and the laws governing the transition to a market economy illustrate the rec.