Codification of legislation in Russia: historical and practical aspects

The current stage of development of Russia is associated with the transformation of economic relations, the democratization of public life, and an increase in the value of legislation as a condition of social regulation. The Russian legislative base is very voluminous: the lower house of parliament has adopted 8,000 laws in a quarter of a century and considered over 600 bills since the beginning of 2020, sorting out, in the words of the speaker, the legislative backlog. In Russia, there are more than 20 codes in force in various areas, but the preparation of a subsequent package of laws and by-laws is inevitable. At the same time, the theoretical understanding of the codification process is not completed, and discussions continue about the content, functions, and types of systematization. The incompleteness of the current stage of codification actualizes the problem, determining the need for an integrated approach to its study. The experience of domestic lawmaking bodies should undoubtedly be used in streamlining modern Russian law. Comprehension of the historical past presupposes a connection between the stages of development while preserving certain elements. This study aims to determine the role of codification of legislation in Russian and modern history. In pursuance of this goal, the authors set the following tasks: (1) identifying the opinions of jurists of different decades on the role of codification in the state; (2) studying the experience of performing codification in Russian history; and (3) determining the direction of codification works. The novelty and practical significance of the research lie in the attempt to comprehensively consider the theoretical and practical aspects of the codification process in Russia and the restoration of continuity in domestic legal science. The methodological basis of the research is a universal dialectical method, which, in conjunction with the historical and comparative legal method, allows revealing the features of the codification stages in the country. The theoretical and practical experience of the Russian codification process contributes to solving the codification problems in current conditions, restoring the connection of times.