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[FAMILY LAW] Novyye formy braka i sem’i po sovetskomu zakonodatel’stvu [i.e. New Forms of Marriage and Family under Soviet Legislation]

Verkhovsky, V.

Item #2417

Leningrad: Gos. izd-vo, 1925. 54, [2] pp. 23,9x15,6
cm. In original publisher’s printed wrappers. Loss of the fragments
of the spine, wrappers with slightly worn edges, but otherwise in a
very good condition.
Scarce. Text in Russian.

An important contribution to early Soviet jurisprudence
and a detailed legal study of the 1925 reforms to Soviet family law,
written by Pavel Verkhovsky (1879-1943), Church historian and one
of the co-authors of the revised Soviet family code. Verkhovsky
was arrested in 1921 for alleged participation in the counterrevolutionary
circle of Prince Ukhtomsky. Though soon released
under a travel restriction, he was later sentenced to ten years in the
Gulag and died in exile in 1943.
The first Russian Code of Laws on Marriage, Family, and
Guardianship was adopted in 1918, introducing civil marriage,
legalizing divorce on demand, and declaring full equality
between men and women. It abolished religious marriage as a
legal institution and aimed to align family life with the ideals of
socialist society. By the mid-1920s, however, practical challenges
and evolving social needs prompted a thorough revision. The new
code, drafted in 1924–1925 and enacted in 1926, clarified divorce
procedures, expanded child welfare oversight, granted equal rights
to all children regardless of birth status, and regulated alimony and
guardianship. This revised family law remained in force until the
next major reform in 1944.

The book examines the ideological and legal foundations
of the new legislation, including gender equality, the legalization
of divorce, and the establishment of civil marriage through registry
offices (ZAGS). Interpreting marriage from a Marxist perspective,
Verkhovsky critiques the former 1918 approach, particularly its
insistence that no union could be considered a marriage without
official registration. Notably, Verkhovsky classifies six types of
marriage-like relationships—prostitution, rape, single-act voluntary
liaison, domestic union, de facto marriage, and legal marriage—
and outlines the legal implications of each. The text concludes with
a draft version of the new Code of Laws on Marriage, Family, and
Guardianship, prepared by the NKVD in 1924-1925 and officially
enacted in 1927.
Overall, a rare and insightful document of early Soviet legal
thought.

Worldcat
shows copies
of the edition
at the Peace
Palace Library,
Harvard Library,
University of
Texas Libraries,
Rutgers, The
State University
of New Jersey,
and University of
Illinois.

Price: $600.00