S. S. Alekseev on General Theoretical Problems of the Soviet Legal System

The problems of the system of law, the classification criteria for the allocation of new branches of law - complex or independent - or the formation of special structures within the existing branches of law are of permanent relevance in connection with the constant process of the emergence of new social relations, which require appropriate legal regulation and the orderly, adequate and effective arrangement of new legal means, legal norms and institutions within the existing system of law. The process of systematizing legislation, organizing its content and filling it with form - codes, Fundamentals, thematic laws, their internal structure, etc. - largely depends on this. How the Soviet legal science approached to solving the theoretical bases of this question in the course of the great systematization and codification of the Soviet legislation in the late 50’s - early 60’s is considered using the material of S.S. Alekseev’s work “General theoretical problems of the system of the Soviet law”, published in 1961. As criteria for the identification of independent branches of law that need to be codified, the researcher identifies the subject and method (a set of specific legal characteristics - specific ways, means, methods) of legal regulation, within which the basic, leading element is the legal status of participants in these social relations. The methodology on the basis of which the scientist analysed the system of Soviet law is considered. The conclusion is made about the contribution of S. S. Alekseev to the solution of topical issues of the period under study and about the relevance of his approaches in the conditions of the modern discussion of the problems of the Russian legal system in connection with the emerging new large and relatively independent groups of legal institutions.