Soviet Legal Theorist on Precedents

An excerpt from Yakov Magaziner’s book is added to our website

A fragment from Yakov Magaziner’s book “The Theory of Law on the Basis of Soviet Legislation” (1925) was added to the Academic Works section of our website. The excerpt deals with the issue of legal precedents and, in spite of being short, contains a number of interesting conclusions and observations. The author discusses the sources of legal force and various kinds of precedents, gives examples of precedential decisions in the activities of Soviet bodies of power. This excerpt testifies to the fact that, contrary to the commonly held (and wrong) opinion, the legal theory was not alien to the idea of precedent as a source of law even in the Soviet era. 

On the personality of Professor Yakov Magaziner (1882 – 1961) see a biographical note in Russian Wikipedia.