Structure of a special part of the criminal law (on the example of the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic 1922)

Introduction: the article examines the structure of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Materials and Methods: the materials of the study were the Soviet criminal law of 1922, the current criminal law, concepts and theories that exist in the criminal law doctrine. The methodological basis of the research were general scientific and special methods of cognition: analysis, systemic, comparative legal, formal legal methods and others. Results: the structural components of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR of 1922, their functional purpose were identified, trends characteristic of the Soviet criminal legislation of the early XX century were indicated, the components of the current criminal law were compared with similar components of the first Soviet criminal code. Discussion and Conclusions: the advantage of the structure and content of the Special Part of the First Soviet Code was laconicism, consistency of the arrangement of the components, the finding of crimes against state power at the beginning of the Special Part of the Criminal Law. As disadvantages, it should be noted the lack of uniformity in the construction of chapters and the construction of articles. The author proposed for further discussion the topic of the application of positive trends in the structuring of Soviet legislation in the construction of modern criminal legislation.