NCJ Number
122089
Journal
Law and Society Review Volume: 23 Issue: 3 Dated: (1989) Pages: 399-447
Date Published
1989
Length
49 pages
Annotation
As part of the dramatic reforms now sweeping through Eastern Europe, a number of socialist States have enacted new legislation enabling courts to review the legality of administrative decisionmaking. I will speculate about the likely development of a socialist rule of law.
Abstract
Using examples from capitalist and socialist law, I will argue that judicial review is at odds both with the long-range ideological goals of socialist societies and with the daily constraints operating on socialist officials and citizens. However, even if judicial review itself is unlikely to gain significant impact in socialist societies as we know them, other changes brought about by socialist law reforms will increasingly help to shelter a socialist citizen against the arbitrary use of State power. 57 footnotes. (Author abstract)