Pressing Problems in the Further Reinforcement of Legality and Law and Order in Our Country

Abstract

It may be stated without exaggeration that the publication of the late N. R. Mironov's book, The Strengthening of Legality and Law and Order — a Programmatic Undertaking of the Party [Ukreplenie zakonnosti i pravoporiadka — programmnaia zadacha partii], is an important event in the life of our legal community. Reinforcement of legality and law and order in our country has more than once attracted the attention of both legal scholars and practical lawyers. Books and articles have been devoted to this question. Frequently, however, as is observed in the book under review, the works of our legal scholars have had little relationship to life and to the activities of state agencies and the public. Their authors have often confined themselves merely to commentaries upon provisions of the law and to restatement of various measures to strengthen legality and law and order, and have given their chief attention to determining the meaning of concepts and terms and to examining various viewpoints. This has had the result that volumes which seemed substantial proved to be of very insignificant practical value and of little assistance to practical workers and the public in their struggle to strengthen legality and law and order. This being the case, the theoretical value of these books was also limited, for no such thing as pure theory, isolated from life and experience, and of no assistance to them, can or does exist.