Comparative Legal Analysis of the Sources of law in the Systems of Socialist Law

The present study is devoted to the comparative analysis of the sources of law of both existing and functioning socialist States, which, in the author's opinion, have a specific legal system. The author reveals the General characteristics of the socialist legal system: the absolute dominance of the normative legal act as a source of law, broad subordinate rule-making (including joint with the party bodies), adherence to a number of independent legal principles, a special procedure for the implementation of rule-making, as well as the presence of the party act as an actual source of law that has competing legal force in comparison with the normative legal act. The study limits the list of countries whose legal system falls under the above criteria. The key criterion for classifying the country as a "socialist type" is a specific state structure, the construction of Marxism-Leninism in the rank of state ideology and borrowing elements of the Soviet law school. It is worth noting that the vast majority of the thesis was devoted to the USSR and China, which is predetermined by the special role of these States for the world Communist movement in General, and the legal system of socialism in particular. The comparative analysis of the sources of law peculiar to socialist legal systems is carried out. The study revealed similarities and differences in the sources of law of different socialist countries, due primarily to the difference in historical circumstances of the establishment of socialist statehood, economic basis, geographical location and the presence/absence of a Federal model of government.