Socialist law is the general type of legal system used in communist and formerly communist states, structurally based on the civil-law system with major modifications and additions from Marxist-Leninist ideology. Its theoretical foundation traces to Lenin, who treated law and the state as instruments of coercion, developed further by theoreticians Peteris Stucka, Dmitry Kursky and Nikolai Krylenko. Despite the ideological superstructure, socialist states preserved the formal criteria of the Romano-Germanic civil law, which is the crux of a live scholarly dispute over whether socialist law ever constituted a genuinely separate legal system.
Facts
Origin Year1917 marks the Russian Revolution and the earliest Soviet legal theorizing under Lenin; the sources give no single codification year for socialist law as a type. Example JurisdictionsSoviet Union, China, Cuba 1 Primary Source of LawState-enacted codes and statute, subordinated to the authority of the supreme state organ of power 1 Classification
Legal Family Socialist Law
Filter Results1 entry
Connections
Associated With
The 1922 RSFSR Civil Code is a defining founding instrument of Soviet socialist law.
Source Socialist Law (Wikipedia)
Includes
Family classification carried over from this entity's own recorded SubLabel (Socialist Law Tradition), assigned under the section-legal-systems structure wave (ruling 761) using the CIA World Factbook / JuriGlobe comparative-law family classification (system.Atlas.DataBrief, law). This edge materializes that existing classification as a connective fact; it is not a new independent research finding.
Family classification carried over from this entity's own recorded SubLabel (Socialist Law Tradition), assigned under the section-legal-systems structure wave (ruling 761) using the CIA World Factbook / JuriGlobe comparative-law family classification (system.Atlas.DataBrief, law). This edge materializes that existing classification as a connective fact; it is not a new independent research finding.
Family classification carried over from this entity's own recorded SubLabel (Socialist Law Tradition), assigned under the section-legal-systems structure wave (ruling 761) using the CIA World Factbook / JuriGlobe comparative-law family classification (system.Atlas.DataBrief, law). This edge materializes that existing classification as a connective fact; it is not a new independent research finding.
Family classification carried over from this entity's own recorded SubLabel (Socialist Law Tradition), assigned under the section-legal-systems structure wave (ruling 761) using the CIA World Factbook / JuriGlobe comparative-law family classification (system.Atlas.DataBrief, law). This edge materializes that existing classification as a connective fact; it is not a new independent research finding.
Legal Family Of
Entity-backed identity for the legal family value this legal-system already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a legal-system entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Entity-backed identity for the legal family value this legal-system already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a legal-system entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
Entity-backed identity for the legal family value this legal-system already carries as an enum fact, resolved to a legal-system entity by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The enum fact itself stays on the entity unchanged.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Asia, found in there.
- Also in Geography Atlas: China, found in there.
- Also in Geography Atlas: Cuba, found in there.
Sources
1. Socialist Law (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia- Socialist law is based on the civil law system, with major modifications and additions from Marxist-Leninist ideology
- Introduction section
- Associated With: Civil Code of the RSFSR (1922)
Frequently Asked Questions
Which countries have used socialist law?
Communist and formerly communist states, such as the Soviet Union, China and Cuba.
Socialist law is the type of legal system used in communist and formerly communist states. The examples listed are the Soviet Union, China and Cuba, and its origin is dated to 1917.
What is the primary source of law in socialist law?
State-enacted codes and statute, subordinate to the supreme organ of state power.
The primary source is state-enacted codes and statute, subordinated to the authority of the supreme state organ of power. The system is structurally based on the civil-law system.
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