Law, Scientific Research Institutes of

in the USSR, research institutes dealing with theoretical problems of the governmental and legal organization of socialist society, the functioning of the state apparatus, the legal regulation of social relations, the development of socialist democracy, and the strengthening of legality and of law and order.

Soviet law institutes characteristically strive to broaden the scope of their research and enrich their methodology on the basis of Marxist materialist dialectics. They seek to strengthen the relation between the theory and practice of law in order to increase the role of jurisprudence in the solution of practical problems of governmental and legal life. The increasing specialization of such institutes is accompanied by increased coordination of their work.

The network of law institutes includes the research institutions of the academies of sciences of the USSR and the Union republics, as well as the law subdepartments of higher educational institutions and the research institutions organized under the ministries and departments of the USSR and the Union republics. The main research center, which directs research in the various institutes, is the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR; the institute deals with fundamental problems of the general theory of state and law, international law, and other branches of jurisprudence. The Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR also has an institute of state and law, and the academies of sciences of the other Union republics have legal departments within their institutes of philosophy and law or economics and law.

There are specialized scientific research institutes attached to the Ministry of Justice of the USSR (the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Soviet Legislation and the Central Scientific Research Institute for Forensic Examination by Experts), the Procurator’s Office of the USSR (the Scientific Research Institute for Studying the Causes of Crime and Developing Preventive Measures), the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR, and the ministries of justice of the Union republics. These scientific research institutes are devoted to the study of scientific and legal problems that are pertinent to the nature of their parent organizations.

Broad scientific research is also conducted by the law departments of universities and the law subdepartments of other higher educational institutions. The general nationwide coordination of research in all areas of jurisprudence is the responsibility of the Scientific Council on Regularities of the Development of the State, Administration, and Law, which is attached to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR.