On the Significance of the Special Part of Russian Criminal Law

The study discusses the significance of the Special Part of sectoral legislation. The article describes the prerequisites for the creation and development of the Special Part as a necessary structural macro-section of Russian criminal law. It is stressed that this structural component is not typical of modern Russian Codes since it is only found in the Criminal and the Penitentiary Codes of the Russian Federation. It is shown that the separation and establishment of parts in Russian legislation reflects a high level of legislative technique. The authors analyze the archetype of the Special Part in the pre-revolutionary legislation of Russia. They disprove the claims that the Special Part, as a component of the code, emerged as early as the 19th century. The authors also present the research of the theory and the analysis of the legislative practice between the total cancellation of the Special Part in the Soviet criminal legislation 1917–1921 and its re-emergence in the first Soviet Criminal Codes. Special attention is paid to the research discussions of the first quarter of the 20th century regarding the necessity and expediency of introducing the Special Part in the Soviet criminal law. It is established that a new approach to building Russian criminal law has been implemented since 1922, whereby the Special Part becomes its obligatory binary structural component. The significance of the Special Part is multifold. First, it consists in the implementation of the principles of criminal law. According to the principle of legality, the Special Part contains a comprehensive list of crimes and punishments for committing them. It is stressed that, by establishing the volume of the crime, the Special Part separates criminally punishable acts from other types of behavior, both lawful and unlawful. Secondly, the significance of the Special Part of criminal law consists in its being a «charter of personal freedom» as by marking the prohibited acts, it thus measures a person’s freedom. The Special Part is also significant because its clauses are aimed at protecting the most important social relations. It gives a definite answer to the question of which social goods are protected by criminal law. Finally, the Special Part reflects some specific strategic directions of criminal policy.