Comparative Criminal Law within the Soviet Union: A Review

The application of the comparative method to the study of two or more legal systems has led a jaded existence in the Soviet Union, for a variety of reasons. As a technique of inquiry, it has been acceptable only insofar as its utilization conforms to the general methodology of dialectical and historical materialism: "It is wrong to think," a Soviet jurist has argued, "that research procedures make up a series of instruments that, from an ideological and political point of view, are neutral."' Marxist jurists consequently have no sympathy for the view that ''comparison" is some type of "objective" or truly "scientific" method, nor, in common with the overwhelming majority of western comparatists, do they look upon comparative law as an autonomous branch of jurisprudence.