THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARCH
TITLE: IN SEARCH OF THE LAW-GOVERNED STAT E Conference Paper #4 of 17
Regional and National Variations : The Baltic Factor .
AUTHOR: Dietrich Andre Loebe r
CONTRACTOR : Lehigh University
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Donald D . Barry
COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 805-0 1
DATE : October 199 1
The work leading to this report was supported by funds provided by the National Council for Soviet and Eas t European Research. The analysis and interpretations contained in the report are those of the author . NCSEER NOTE
This paper is #4 in the series listed on the following page . The series is the product of a major conferenc e entitled, In Search of the Law-Governed State : Political and Societal Reform Under Gorbachev, which was summarized in a Council Report by that Title, authored by Donald D . Barry, and distributed by the Council i n October, 1991 . The remaining papers will be distributed seriatim . TheConference apers P
1. GIANMARIA AJANI, "The Rise and Fall of the Law-Governed Stat e in the Experience of Russian Legal Scholarship . " 2. EUGENE HUSKEY, "From Legal Nihilism to Pravovoe Gosudarstvo : Soviet Legal Development, 1917-1990 . " 3. LOUISE SHELLEY, "Legal Consciousness and the Pravovo e Gosudarstvo . " 4. DIETRICH ANDRE LOEBER, "Regional and National Variations : Th e Baltic Factor . " 5. JOHN HAZARD, "The Evolution of the Soviet Constitution . " 6. FRANCES FOSTER-SIMONS, "The Soviet Legislature : Gorbachev' s School of Democracy . " 7. GER VAN DEN BERG, "Executive Power and the Concept of Pravovoe Gosudarstvo . " 8. HIROSHI ODA, "The Law-Based State and the CPSU . "
9. GEORGE GINSBURGS, "Domestic Law and International Law : Importing Superior Standards . " 10. ROBERT SHARLET, "The Fate of Individual Rights in the Age o f Perestroika . "
11. NICOLAI PETRO, "Informal Politics and the Rule of Law . " 12. PETER SOLOMON, "Reforming Criminal Law Under Gorbachev : Crime, Punishment, and the Rights of the Accused . "
13. DONALD BARRY, "The Quest for Judicial Independence : Soviet Courts in a Pravovoe Gosudarstvo . "
14. PETER MAGGS, "Substantive and Procedural Protection of th e Rights of Economic Entities and Their Owners . " 15. WILLIAM B . SIMONS, "Soviet Civil Law and the Emergence of a Pravovoe Gosudarstvo : Do Foreigners Figure in the Grant Scheme? "
16. KATHRYN HENDLEY, "The Ideals of the Pravovoe Gosudarstvo and the Soviet Workplace : A Case Study of Layoffs . "
17. Commentary : The printed versions of conference remarks b y participants BERMAN, SCHMIDT, MISHIN, ENTIN, E . KURIS, P . KURIS , SAVITSKY, FEOFANOV, and MOZOLIN Regional and National Variation s The Baltic Facto r
Dietrich Andre Loeber
Contents
page
Executive Summary i
Introduction 1
The Baltic Heritage 2
Baltic Efforts of Building a Law Governed State 4
Links to the Baltic Heritage 8
West European Values 9
East European Values 1 0
National Values 1 2
Links to the Baltic Struggle for Independence 1 4
The Record in Perspective 1 8
Notes 21 Executive Summary
Public statements and published sources in the Baltic states on building a law-base d
state (pravovoe gosudarstvo, Rechtsstaat) reveal the relevance of the Baltic heritage . It includes West and East European values as well as national values which were respected an d cherished in the period of independence (1918-1940) . The record shows many tellin g references to the past, but one of the striking findings is the widespread view that the issu e of pravovoe gosudarstvo is inextricably linked with independence . Introduction
The concept of pravovoe gosudarstvo' is now hailed as progressive and "socialist" in the Soviet Union2 after having been denounced for almost seven decades as a device of th e reactionary classes. A veritable avalanche of journal articles and books has begun to b e published on the subject. One aspect in the heated debate has been largely ignored--regional variations. I am not aware of any single Soviet piece of research addressing this issu e explicitly. This is surprising since we are justified in expecting such variations . In the West , for instance, we do not have a uniform concept of Rechtsstaat, but witness several types at work, one of them being the rule of law-concept in common law countries .
In order to detect different concepts of the pravovoe gosudarstvo within the Soviet
Union, one would have to scan publications of all regions with potential variations . We would search, for instance, in areas which formed separate legal systems in the past or whic h constitute Union republics at present . If these areas are grouped into "families," at least 1 5 legal sub-system could be identified tentatively : Russia, the Ukraine (including the former area of the Don Cossacks and the North-Bukowina, a former Rumanian territory), Belorussi a
(both the Ukraine and Belorussia with former Polish territories) ;
Estonia and Latvia (which--similar to Finland--lived under a separate legal system until 1917) and Lithuania, now jointly known as Baltic states; Moldova (including Bessarabia) ; Armenia ,
Azerbaijan and Georgia in the Caucasus ; the five republics in Soviet Central Asia .
This listing shows that it is beyond the capacity of one person to survey publication s for all those regions. A selection has to be made . Materials on the Baltic area are more readily available than on other republics . Therefore, and for linguistic reasons, I have chose n the Baltic region as the subject for my study . 2
The essence of the pravovoe gosudarstvo as advocated in the Baltic states conforms to the generally recognized concept as understood in modem constitutional law and legal theory .
It includes at least three essential elements :
(1) supremacy of the law . This means that the state is bound by its own legal act s
and that it observes a hierarchy of law s
(2) division of legislative, executive, and judicial power. This requires, among
other things, an independent judiciary, the judicial review of administrative
acts, and a mechanism for constitutional supervisio n
(3) respect for basic human rights and the machinery for their protection .'
If there are differences in emphasis and approach in the debate on the Rechtsstaat i n the Baltic media, they can be explained by the plurality of opinion rather than by national or regional characteristics. For this reason the present study is focused not so much on a survey of individual views about what constitutes a pravovoe gosudarstvo, but rather on why a
Rechtsstaat is thought to be necessary . Here I shall explore where its roots are, and whether continuity with some pre-Soviet thinking is in evidence. Except in the final sentence, I wil l not consider it my task to pass judgment on the extent to which attempts to realize the goa l have been successful and what is still needed to achieve it. This would probably require another paper .
The Baltic Heritage
The idea of a law governed state has its own history in the Baltic states. Before 3 becoming independent in 1918, all three Baltic countries were parts of the Russian Empire , but the history of their political and cultural developments followed different paths .
Administratively, the territories which later became Estonia and Latvia were able t o preserve some degree of autonomy dating back to the Treaty of Nystad (1721) . They forme d the provinces (gubernii) of Estland, Livland, and Courland, which were jointly called th e
Baltic provinces . Lithuania, on the other hand lacked such privileged status . Lithuania, th e only Baltic country with a previous record of independence (in the 14th-18th centuries), wa s divided into three provinces: Vilna, Grodno, and Kovno (in Lithuanian : Kaunas) . Latgale , located in the south-east of present-day Latvia, was also excluded from the Baltic provinces .
It was administered as part of the Vitebsk province. Latgale, also known as Polish Livonia , was under Polish rule until 1792 .
The Lithuanian territory was governed by general Russian law . The territories of the
Baltic provinces, on the other hand, enjoyed the right to live under a legal system of thei r own. This legal system was based on Roman law and codified in the "Law of the Balti c
Provinces" of 1864 . 4
Ethnically and linguistically Latvians and Lithuanians are related, but they profess different religions: Lithuania is a Catholic country whereas the Latvians as well as th e
Estonians are predominantly Lutheran. Estonian is a Finno-ugric language .
In 1918 Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania won independence . This period lasted unti l
1940 when, as a consequence of the infamous German-Soviet Secret protocols of 1939, th e three countries were incorporated by the USSR . During the 21 years of independence, thei r legal systems worked effectively, but each of them experienced two types of government : 4
(1) a liberal-democratic government, based on parliamentary rule . This was the
foundation upon which the new states were established ; and
(2) authoritarian rule, to which Lithuania was subjected first (1926). After the
world economic crisis, authoritarian regimes were also set up in Estonia an d
Latvia (1934) . The Estonian variant of authoritarianism was less rigid ,
permitting Estonia a partial return to parliamentary rule in 1937 . 5
After becoming Soviet republics, the law of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania wa s changed in its totality three times within five years . In 1940 a Moscow Edict (Ukaz) ordered the application of RSFSR codes in the newly incorporated territories, thus replacing th e respective national laws. In addition, Soviet federal (all-Union) legislation became operative .
In 1941, when the three countries were occupied by Germany, the Reichskommissar fur da s
Ostland reversed the Moscow Edict and ordered a return to the pre-war national laws , subject, however, to the statutes of the occupying powers. In 1944/45 Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania were re-occupied by the USSR with the result that Soviet legislation, introduced i n
1940, resumed its effect . Presently, the fundamental changes in the Baltic countries have produced a new major reversal in their legal orders . '
Baltic Efforts of Building a Law Governed Stat e
Building a law governed state has almost become a goal of national policy in th e
Baltic states. But none of the Constitutions of the three countries uses the term Rechtsstaat or its equivalent. Estonia, in 1988, inserted a provision in its Constitution of 1978 which comes 5 close to expressing one of the essential features of a Rechtsstaat . The relevant sentence in th e amended version reads: "The judicial protection of constitutional rights in the Estonian SS R is safeguarded."' The Constitution of the Latvian SSR of 1978, which is still applied to th e extent that it does not contradict the Declaration of Independence of 1990, fails to address th e question of pravovoe gosudarstvo.8 Lithuania, according to its Provisional Basic Law o f
1990, is a "sovereign democratic state ." In a draft, published in 1988, Lithuania, wa s described as a "sovereign socialist law-governed state" (pravovoe gosudarstvo) . 9
Policymakers in all three countries are on record as supporting the idea of pravovoe gosudarstvo . In its 1990 Program of Activities, "the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Republi c sets the goal of .. . forming a legal state, where all human rights are guaranteed . . . The basis for the political structure is parliamentary democracy and the division of powers .10
The Minister of Justice of Estonia, Juri Raidla, elaborated on this task in a challengin g article in the Ministry's law journal in 1990 . "
In Latvia the Council of Ministers ordered a series of measures with a view to raising
"the general legal education in the republic." This was done for the express purpose of
"creating a law-governed state",12 as envisaged by the 19th All-union Conference of th e
CPSU in June 1988 . 13 Appeals for achieving this goal have also been issued by the Minister of Justice of Latvia, Viktors Skudra . In 1988 he declared that the "Ministry of Justice i s beyond any doubt for the creation of a law-governed state ."' He urged the country's jurist s not to "stand by the ruins" of the Rechtsstaat, but to actively work towards the goal . 15 In an article entitled "On the Road to a Law-Governed State" he outlined the basic features of thi s concept and described the practical steps to be taken in the future . 16 6
Leaders of political parties and movements have similarly focused on the issue of
Rechtsstaat . Creating a law-governed state is one of the goals of the People's Front of
Estonia. It is inscribed in its Charter, adopted in 1988 .17 The People's Front views itself a s a "social guarantee" for a law-governed state . This is stated in the General Program of th e
People's Front adopted in 1988 . 1 8
The People's Front of Latvia, in its 1988 Program, has proclaimed a law-governe d state to be one of its main "General principles ." It has also advanced concrete demands fo r its realization . 19 The idea was further elaborated by leading members of the People's Fron t of Latvia, such as Dainis Ivans 20 and others . 21 The Statute of the People's Front adopted i n
1990 reconfirmed the establishment of a law-governed state as one of its main tasks , demanding at the same time the liquidation of the "authoritarian state structure ."' The
Social Democratic Party of Latvia devoted a whole section of its Program of 1989 to th e question of a law-governed state, 23 while the National Independence Movement of Latvi a
(LNNK) expressed support for the Rechtsstaat-concept in its 1990 Program in just on e sentence . 24 The Communist Party of Latvia mentioned pravovoe gosudarstvo in its Action
Program of 1989 as one of the bases on which a rejuvenated socialist society should be built . "
In 1990 one faction of the party declared itself independent of the CPSU and shortl y thereafter adopted a new name : "Democratic Labor Party of Latvia" . In its Fundamental
Principles of 1990 the party states as one of its aims the "building of a democratic .. .society in a free, independent and law-governed Latvian state :" The "Interfront" of Latvia, on the other hand, which is seen by the People's Front as a conservative force, proclaims in its 7
1990 Statute the "promotion of .. .legal . . .culture" as one of its tasks .27 The term pravovoe gosudarstvo is not used .
The Communist Party of Lithuania had voted for independence from the CPS U already in 1989 . Its Central Committee established a "commission for the Evaluation of th e
Work of the Communist Party of Lithuania in the Period of 1918-1989" . In the evaluation ,
"it is necessary", emphasized the chairman of the Commission, "to proceed from a clear orientation28 towards a democratic and law-governed Lithuanian state ."
Sajudis, the political organization in Lithuania which won the election and has formed the government since 1989, stated in its pre-election Platform of 1990 : "Free Lithuania i s established as a legal state reviving the democratic traditions of the Lithuanian Republic . " 29
This declaration is in line with the policy proclaimed at the founding congress of Sajudis i n
1988 when Arvydas Juozaitis, a spokesman of Sajudis, linked the future of Lithuania with th e formation of a law-governed state .30
In addition, organizations of lawyers are in the forefront of those who support the idea of a law-governed state. A courageous initiative was taken by the primary part y organizations of lawyers' collectives of Estonia in May 1988 . It was probably one of the firs t attempts to formulate the essential prerequisites of a "socialist legal state ."' The Lawyer s
Association of Latvia followed soon thereafter by founding an Association which unite s lawyers who "take part in the building of a legal state" (1988 Statute Article 1) . 32 A month later the jurists of Lithuania published a draft statute of a professional society which "activel y supports . .the formation of a sovereign legal socialist state in Lithuania" (Article 1) . The epithet "socialist" in the notion was omitted in a Declaration adopted by the organization in 8
1989 . At the same time a Resolution was passed specifically devoted to a "tiesine s valstybes" (legal state) . "
Important contributions advancing the idea of a law-governed state have also bee n made by legal scholars. Reference could be made to the works of U . Lohmus, 34 Ilmar
Rebane35 and E. Ridamae36 in Estonia, and to Ilmars Bisers 37 and Edgars Melkisis 38 , and
Juris Bojars in Latvia and to an unsigned lead article in Socialistine teise, the law journal o f the Ministry of Justice of Lithuania . 39 Estonian scholars abroad, like Ilmar Tammelo , contributed earlier to the discussion . 40 Henn-Juri Uibopuu of the University of Salzburg published pertinent articles in Estonia's law journal in 1989 and 1991 . 4 1
A seminar of jurists from the Baltic republics, which took place in November 1988 in
Tallinn, adopted a Resolution which states that the "judicial protection of constitutiona l rights" is one of the "revolutionary steps on the road to forming a law-governed state."42 At the same time (Fall 1988) at least four conferences were held in Latvia on the subject o f pravovoe gosudarstve
Ilmars Bisers emphasized that the pravovoe gosudarstvo concept has to take into account specifics of the republic, for instance, historic peculiarities . 44 This is done in practice. Baltic efforts are linked in some way either to the Baltic heritage in the past and/or to the Baltic struggle for independence at present .
Links to the Baltic Heritag e
The Baltic heritage is composed of a variety of elements . Three of them are singled 9 out in the context of our discussion of pravovoe gosudarstvo :
(1) West European values shaped by the reformation, enlightenment an d
parliamentary democracy ;
(2) East European values, inherited from pre-revolutionary Russia, an empir e
caught between autocratic rule and liberal tradition ;
(3) national values which found their fulfillment and most authoritative expression
in independent statehood (1918-1940) .
West European Values
The idea of Rechtsstaat originated in Western Europe. The philosophical foundation s for it were laid by Immanuel Kant in the 18th century . The concept was then developed b y legal scholars . Among the first were Robert von Mohl (1799-1875) and Friedrich Julius Stah l
(1802-1861) . By now the concept is a fundamental notion in Western constitutional law and theory .
Evidence of a link between the Baltic efforts to build a Rechtsstaat and the value s originating in West Europe can be seen in recent publications . Viktors Skudra (the above- mentioned Minister of Justice of Latvia) singled out Kant in an article in Kommunist
Sovetskoi Lafvii in 1988 . "I mention him," said Skudra, "mainly because it was he who wa s one of the first in the world history who started to talk about the legal state . "45 Kant' s
Prolegomena appeared in Latvia in a Latvian translation 1990 with a print run of 15,00 0 copies . 46 Robert von Mohl and his basic work on the Rechtsstaat was the subject of an 1 0 article published in Estonia . 47 It is significant that Mohl's work was available in a Russian translation as early as 1868 . 4 8
The printed word is the most important channel in the Baltic for the communication o f
West European values. Input through personal experience of life in a Rechtsstaat is minimal .
Up until recently, the present generation of Baltic lawyers was deprived of the opportunity t o gain professional experience in Western Europe or in America . The period of isolation from
the outside world under Soviet rule set in 50 years ago . This means that the last cohort of lawyers which could have studied or practiced abroad was born before 1915 and is now mor e
than 75 years of age. The isolation during the Soviet period is in contrast with the pre-194 0
years, when jurists from the Baltic states often traveled abroad for legal training or work .
This was in line with a tradition among the youth and the intelligentsia to continue educatio n
or to gain professional experience in a foreign country .
East European Value s
The legal heritage of Russia was kept alive in the Baltic states for almost two decade s
after it was extinguished in Soviet Russia in 1917 . Some Russian laws and statutes remained
in force in the Baltic region until replaced by national legislation . 49 They included, fo r
instance, the Judicial reform laws of 1864, the Civil and Criminal procedure codes and the
Statute on Notaries . The Russian 1903 draft of a Criminal code became law in the Balti c
states (it was in effect in Latvia until 1933) . Commentaries to pre-revolutionary Russia n
codes and law textbooks appeared in new editions in the Baltic republics in the 1920s . The 1 1 publication activities extended to such fields of law as civil and business law, 50 civil and criminal procedure law, 51 international law 52 and Roman law.53 Of particular interest in the present context are publications in the field of state law and legal theory . 54
It seems significant to note that some prominent pre-revolutionary Russian scholar s who advocated the idea of pravovoe gosudarstvo were of Baltic origin . This is true, for instance, of S .A . Korf, author of a fundamental work on administrative justice, 55 Boris
Baron Nol'de, who is known for his work on international law and legal history, 56 and
Mikhail Reisner, who wrote a frequently cited article on pravovoe gosudarstvo in 1903 . 57
He later became one of the early Soviet legal theorists . Another scholar of Baltic heritag e was the "well-known jurist" V .N . Rennenkampf. 5 8
An important role in preserving the Russian legal heritage was played by Zakon i sud , a law journal in Russian which established its home in Riga, Latvia. It was published by the
Society of Russian Jurists in Latvia and appeared from 1929 to 1938 . One of its editors was the pre-revolutionary lawyer Oskar Gruzenberg (1866-1940) who became famous for his part in the Beilis case. He settled in Riga in 1926 . 59 The journal Zakon i sud earned a reputatio n of meeting high professional standards . It contains a wealth of materials, some of which hav e preserved their relevance to this day. Another prominent Russian jurist who found refuge i n the Baltic region was the civilist Professor Igor M . Tiutriumov (1865-1943), formerly o f
Petrograd University. He was invited by the University of Tartu/Iuryev and taught there
1920-1930 . 60 A further example is Professor David Grimm (1864-1941), an authority o n
Roman law, and a former Rector (President) of Petrograd University, who likewise taught i n
Tartu (1927-1934) . 61 1 2
The time period which separates the present generation of Baltic jurists from its pre -
1917 roots is roughly 20 years shorter than that for Soviet jurists. This may have relevanc e to the development of the concept of a pravovoe gosudarstvo in the Baltic region . It is probably not a coincidence that a 1983 study on the sociological school in Russian pre - revolutionary legal thought was published by a scholar in the law department of the Latvia n
Academy of Sciences in Riga . 6 2
National Value s
The number of persons with a living memory of the years of independence (1918 -
1940) is limited to those who now are 70 or older . Even fewer people can remember life under conditions of a parliamentary democracy . This is so because the Baltic states wer e subject to authoritarian rule in the last years of their independence. A Latvian citizen, for instance, who may have witnessed the last parliament in session in 1934 at 21 is now 78 .
This means that national values which could be of relevance in shaping a futur e
Rechtsstaat have to be learned or internalized mainly from published sources . Before 194 0 the concept of Rechtsstaat was discussed by legal scholars in all three Baltic countries, first and foremost by academic teachers of constitutional law. Among them professor Nikola i
Maim of Tartu University, 63 professor Karlis Dislers of the University of Latvia` an d professor Mykolas Romeris of the University of Kaunas 65 deserve mention . After the incorporation of the Baltic countries into the Soviet Union, Maim emigrated and died in th e
USA, Dislers was deported by Soviet authorities and died in a labor camp in Siberia, and 1 3
Romeris was retired and died in a small village in Lithuania . In the present discussion of a law-governed state we occasionally find references to the works of these authors . Excerpts from Dislers' studies and a textbook by Romeris on constitutional law were reprinted in 199 0 in Riga' and Vilnius" respectively . A memorial plaque devoted to Maim is displayed a t the Law Faculty of Tartu University .
The Baltic states lived up to the standards of a Rechtsstaat during their parliamentary phase. In the treatment of national minorities Estonia and Latvia were even hailed by th e international community as models of tolerance and cooperation . The cultural autonomy i n
Estonia and the autonomy of educational institutions in Latvia were examples of a liberal an d effective solution of the national problem after World War One . The present Minister of
Justice of Latvia, Viktors Skudra, is well aware of this achievement . Independent Latvia, he said in 1989, "in the area of education was (if one could say so) a more legal state than the sovereign republic is in our days . "68
The quotation shows that national values, to some degree, have entered the presen t discussion of a Rechtsstaat in the Baltic region . This is also true of the Baltic emigre community. The question whether the parliamentary rule in Latvia, for instance, has prove d to be a positive experience, was answered in the affirmative in a convincing article by Janis
Penikis, a political science professor at Indiana University . The article was reprinted twice recently in Latvia . 69 While the input from the past is somewhat limited, the linkage of th e concept of Rechtsstaat to the present Baltic struggle for independence is more clearly in evidence . 1 4
Links to the Baltic Struggle for Independenc e
The pravovoe gosudarstvo idea has become a weapon in the Baltic struggle fo r independence . It is used as an argument both by the government in power and by th e opposition represented by the "Interfront" movements in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania . The debate frequently centers on issues of topical significance. In some cases the references ar e
formulated in negative terms, pointing to situations which are said to be incompatible with a pravovoe gosudarstvo .
In 1990 the Estonian democratic association "Vaba Eesti" issued a statement of it s basic principles, which includes a section entitled "Pravovoe gosudarstvo" . After listing a
number of traditional features of a law-governed state, the statement adds a new element : the
condemning of the crime of mass repressions . 70 Extending the concept of a pravovoe gosudarstvo to this question of criminal law can be explained by the fact that repressions an d
the wave of terror which swept Estonia under Soviet rule is an explosive issue there .
Another burning problem was raised and linked to the pravovoe gosudarstvo
discussion in Latvia when Aleksandr N . Iakovlev visited Riga in August 1988 . In a public
meeting with Iakovlev, one of the participants exclaimed : "In a legal state non-citizens are
excluded from taking part in elections ; this right is reserved to citizens . "71 The People' s
Front of Estonia considers elections to be in conformity with the "principles of a legal state "
if they are general, equal and direct . 7 2
Another area thought to be relevant for building a Rechtsstaat is citizenship . The
Estonian Lawyers' organization insists that each republic should have its own citizenship and 1 5
regulate the manner by which it is acquired . 73 According to the same document, the
recognition of sate language for each republic is equally a feature of a Rechtsstaat .74
Details about the attitudes of federal authorities vis-a-vis republican lawmaking organ s
in the past are revealed in an article by Ilmar Rebane, a law professor of Tartu University .
In the article, entitled "On the Drafting and Putting into Effect of Normative Acts in a Lega l
State," Rebane describes the mechanism used by Moscow to force republics into abandonin g
their drafts and adopting versions prepared by Moscow . 75 The working atmosphere in these
situations, he says, was less than friendly and was characterized by a contempt for republica n
wishes and traditions. Rebane's point is that republican lawmaking without interference fro m the center is a crucial element of a pravovoe gosudarstvo .
The concept of pravovoe gosudarstvo is also endorsed by the opposition. Jani s
Dzenitis, Deputy Procurator General of the USSR, a Latvian, who previously had served a s the Procurator of the Latvian SSR, attacked his countrymen in the pages of Pravda in 1990 .
He came out against the thesis that republican laws take precedence over federal law or--a s he put it--that a lower ranking statute overrules a higher ranking act . This, he wrote, "turn s everything upside down . And it happens in a country which aims at becoming a law - governed state in the future.""
In-migration is another sensitive issue in the Baltic region . In 1989 the Latvian governmen t enacted a decree on stopping an unjustified increase of the population and on regulating migratory processes." This statute is characterized by the opposition in the "Interfront " paper of Latvia Edinstvo as an undemocratic act which "does not serve the idea of forming a law-governed state."78 1 6
A strike committee in Estonia which is in opposition to the government likewis e refers to pravovoe gosudarstvo . In 1989 it made two propositions to the Estonian parliamen t in relation to the "formation of a law-governed state" :
(1) to repeal the Estonian Declaration of Sovereignty and the Constitutional
amendments of November 16, 1988, and ;
(2) to exclude from commissions of the Supreme Soviet those "members of th e
Union of jurists of Estonia who support its platform" on the "so-called priorit y
of the indigenous79 nation . "
The Strike Committee in Estonia in effect demands a thought control in the name of pravovoe gosudarstvo . The idea of a law-based state was also compromised in a document of the Central Committee of the CPSU, entitled "On the Results of Meetings and Conversation s with Party Aktivs, Communists, and Workers of the Lithuanian SSR" . In this confidential memorandum of 29 August 1990 the CPSU leadership details its plans for Lithuania . Section
7 of the document reads :
The State and Legal Department of the CPSU Central committee, throug h Communists in charge of the country's law-enforcement bodies, is to organiz e work to institute criminal or administrative proceedings against the leaders of various nationalist and anti-Soviet public formations, extremists, and deserter s who have violated Soviet laws . to this end, [the department is] to coordinat e the activities of the USSR Prosecutor-General's Office, the USSR Ministry o f Internal Affairs, the USSR KGB, and the USSR Supreme Court . 80
The instruction amounts to interference with the administration of justice incompatible wit h the notion of a Rechtsstaat . In neighboring Latvia Ilmars Bisers, Deputy Chairman of th e
Council of Ministers and a law professor, aptly observed in 1990 : "We are still very far from a law-governed state . Under conditions of a one-party system it is impossible to create 1 7 a81 law-governed state ."
The relationship between a law-governed state and international law is of crucial importance in the Baltic case. In an address to the USSR President, the Supreme Soviet o f
Estonia pointed out in 1990 that the "formation of a law-governed democratic state in th e
Soviet Union is possible only by restoring historical justice" to Estonia . 82 This is a reference to the illegal division of Europe in 1939 into Soviet and German spheres of influence. As a result of this secret agreement Estonia (and the other two Baltic states) los t their independence a year later . The link between pravovoe gosudarstvo and international law is also stressed by I .A. Teder, Vice-President of the Bar of Estonia . A Rechtsstaat in Estonia can only be built, claims Teder, after Estonia has ceased to be a Soviet republic . "It seems absurd to combine aggression and a law-governed state" he writes explaining his thought a s follows: the Estonian SSR was created as a result of an aggression committed by the USS R against Estonia in 1940 and, consequently, lacks a legal basis. "No law", Teder concludes ,
"can be built on an illegal foundation . " 8 3
A similar view, but coined in positive terms, can be found in the Conception fo r
Restoring an Independent State of Latvia, adopted by the Board of the Union of Scholars of
Latvia and published in 1990 . One of its central theses is : "A law-governed state can b e created faster in an independent Latvia rather than in the USSR federation which lacks a democratic tradition ."84 But independence is not easily won . The dilemma is eloquentl y expressed in 1989 by Anatolijs Gorbunovs, Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the then Latvian SSR . He cautioned his listeners that "we have taken only the very firs t steps on the road to a law-governed state ." Our task is so difficult, he explained, "because 1 8
the concepts 'republican sovereignty' and 'law-governed state' are inseparable . " 85
When the Baltic states began to take steps to restore their independence, they were warne d
in the West not to destabilize the Soviet Union and not to cause trouble for the new reform-
minded leadership. They were advised to move slowly and cautiously . The Supreme Soviet
of Lithuania has taken a stand against such views and insists on the generally-recognize d right of self-determination . In a letter to President Gorbachev in 1990 it stressed : "The re -
establishment of an independent state of Lithuania .. .cannot harm .. .attempts to create a
law-governed state in the Soviet Union . "86 The Supreme Soviet of Lithuania has its doubts ,
however, as to whether the attempt in the Soviet Union has been successful . In an address to
all peoples and governments of democratic states participating in the Conference for Securit y
and Cooperation in Europe it observed in 1990 : "Some politicians and means of mas s
information try to portray the Soviet Union as a democratic and law-governed state wherea s
its attitudes towards Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia demonstrate the opposite . 7"8
The Record in Perspectiv e
The substance of the Rechtsstaat concept in the Baltic states does not differ markedl y
from traditional features, as recognized in legal theory and practice in Western democracies .
If there are deviations, they relate to the political sphere where the Rechtsstaat concept is
used--or abused--as an argument for and against independence .
The issue of a Rechtsstaat in the Baltic region reflects conflict, mainly between th e
federal power and republican claims to independence . The confrontation manifests itself in 1 9 the legislative, executive and judicial spheres and consequently affects all areas relevant t o the functioning of a pravovoe gosudarstvo . Union power is most visibly represented by th e presence of armed forces and internal security troops and by the claim of federal agencies t o exercise authority in the republics . The federal agencies rely on the inherited system of subordination and on a network of federal regulations which they try to enforce by using th e financial and material leverage at their disposal .
There is room for a more profound and systematic treatment of the concept of a
Rechtsstaat in the Baltic countries . Several reasons come to mind as to why this has not bee n done yet. First, there is the instable political situation which dictates its own priorities .
Second, fifty years of Soviet rule over the Baltic have left their imprint . The concept of a pravovoe gosudarstvo was treated with a peculiar (svoeobraznyi) "immunity" for decades, as two Soviet authors from Rostov have euphemistically called the outright condemnation of thi s
"bourgeois" idea . 88 The process of rehabilitation of the concept has been lengthy an d painful . A third reason is the Soviet "heritage ." For some citizens on Soviet territory , pravovoe gosudarstvo is nothing more than a successor to "socialist legality ." Frequently it i s promoted in the same way--in a "campaign" style. E. Ridamae, an author in Estonia, put s this observation into the following words :
"As regards pravovoe gosudarstvo, we are probably still at the level of pronouncing declarations from high tribunes .. .Let us remember how (socialist ) legality was devalued : Despite its permanent strengthening and safeguarding, i t became a mass (socialist) lawlessness, as it turns out now after the fact (zadnim chislom) . We probably do not yet know what a pravovoe gosudarstv o actually means .. .First we have to find out . . .how to liquidate collisions between the right of self-determination and superpower interests ."89
This point is missed by John Lloyd, writing in the Financial Times in 1990. For him 20 the "process of the creation of a law-governed state in the Soviet Union is the success stor y of the five years of President Mikhail Gorbachev . Not just successful: breathtakingly successful .. ." . 90 Ridamae, I submit, is closer to reality than John Lloyd .
2 1
NOTES
1. The terms pravovoe gosudarstvo, Rechtsstaat, law-governed state and the litera l
translation "legal state" are used in this paper synonymously .
2. Resolution of the 19th CPSU Conference, 1 July 1988, "Democratization of Soviet
Society .. .", XIX Vsesoiuznaia konferentsiia KPSS ... Stenograficheskii otchet ,
Moscow 1988, 139 ; Pravda, 5 July 1988, 2 .
3. Only a few titles are cited here : International Commission of Jurists . The Rule of Law
and Human Rights . Principles and Definitions, Geneva 1966, VIII, 83 pp . ; Iu . M.
Baturin and R .Z. Livshits, Sotsialisticheskoe pravovoe gosudarstvo : Ot ideik
osushchestvleniziu, Moscow 1989, 256 pp . ; Sotsialisticheskoe pravovoe gosudarstvo :
Problemy i suzhdeniia (B.N. Topornin, ed .), Moscow 1989, 201 pp . ; Sotsialisticheskoe
pravovoe gosudarstvo: kontseptsiia i puti realizatsii, (V .S . Nerseiants, ed.) Moscow
1990, 320 pp . ; S .V . Lezov, "Pravovoe gosudarstvo v intellektual_'noi traditsii", i n
Aktual 'nye problemy pravovoedeniia za rubezhom : Problema pravovogo gosudarstva .
Vyp. 2 . Referativnyi sbornik, Moscow 1990, 4-22 ; Otto Luchterhandt, Die Sowjetunion
auf dem Wege zum Rechtsstaat, Sankt Augustin 1990, 121 pp . ; J. Quigley, "The Soviet
Union as a State Under the Rule of Law : An Overview," 23 Cornell International La w
Journal 1990 No. 2, 205-225 .
4. Legal Sources and Bibliography of the Baltic States . (V. Gsovski, ed.), New York 1963 ,
xiii, 197 pp .
5. Georg von Rauch, The Baltic States . Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania: The Years of
Independence 1917-1940, London 1974, XVI, 265 pp .
22
6. Die baltischen Nationen . Estland . Lettland, Litauen . (Boris Meissner, ed .) Koln 1990 ,
324 pp . ; Renewal and Challenge : The Baltic States 1988-1989 . Prepared by the staff of
the U .S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (101st Congress, 1s t
Session . House Committee print), Washington D.C. 1990, 120 pp . ; Henn-Juri Uibopuu ,
Die Verfassungs-und Rechtsentwicklung der baltischen Staaten 1988-1990 Koln 1990, 79
PP
7. Law, 16 November 1988, Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Soveta Estonskoi SSR 1988 No. 48 ,
item 684 (Article 2) .
8. Declaration of Independence, 4 May 1990, Latvijas Republikas . .Zinotajs 1990 No. 20,
item 356 (Article 6) .
9. Provisional Basic Law, 11 March 1990, Vedomosti Litovskoi Respubliki 1990 No . 9,
item 224 (Article 1). The draft, prepared by a working group attached to the PSS
LitSSR, was published in Vozrozhdenie (Vilnius) No. 7, 15 November 1988, 2 . Cf .
Article 1 of the Constitution of Georgia as amended in 1991 : It reads "The Republic of
Georgia is a democratic legal state .. ." (Sovetskaia molodezh 9 April 1991, 3) .
10. Program, 16 May 1990, Vedomosti Estonskoi Respubliki 1990 No. 15, item 248 (Article
V) .
11. Jun Raidla, "Ot krizisa k pravovomu gosudarstvu", Iurist Estonii 1990 No. 3, 203-208 .
12. Decree, 24 July 1989, Latvijas PSR . .Zinotajs 1989 No . 40, item 603 .
13. Resolution of 1988, op. cit . note 2 .
14. Viktors Skudra, Cina (Riga) 21 October 1988, 2 . See also "sozdaem pravovoe
gosudarstvo . Interv_'iu s Ministrom iustitsii Latviiskoi SSR Viktorom Skudroi",
23
Kommunist Sovetskoi Latvii 1990 No. 1, 48 .
15. Idem, in Pasaules latviesu juristu kongress . Darbs sekcija "Juridiskas institulcijas un to
reforma Latvija" Riga 1990, 20 .
16. Idem, "Cela uz tiesisku valsti" in Viktors Skudra et al., Par tiesisku valsti, Riga 1989 ,
3-9 ; Idem, Kommunist Sovetskoi Latvii 1988 No. 12, 81-86 ; also in the Latvian edition :
Padomju Latvijas komunists . See also Viktors Skudra, "Veidojam tiesisko valsti, "
Padomju Latvijas komunists 1990 No. 1, 45-50; also in the Russian edition : Kommunist
Sovetskoi Latvii .
17. Text : Narodnyi kongress . Sbornik materialov kongressa Narodnogo fronta Estonii 1-2
oktiabria 1988 g ., Tallinn 1989, 161 .
18. Ibid., 171 .
19. Program of 1988, in Latvijas Tautas fronte Gads pirmais, Riga 1989, 208-209 .
20. Dainis Ivans, ibid ., 199 .
21. Janis Peters, ibid ., 9 ; Janis Ruksans, ibid ., 68; Egons Rusanovs, ibid., 99 ; Andris
Teikmanis, ibid., 100 .
22. Statute of 1990, in Latvijas Tautas frontes 2 . kongress. Programma, Statuti, Rezolucijas,
Riga 1990, 22 .
23. Provisional Program of 1989, in : Socialdemokrats (Riga) 1989 No . 1-2, 7 .
24. Program of 1990, draft, Neatkariba (Riga) 1990 No . 26 (May 25), 2 .
25. Action Program of 1989, Pa Latvijas suverenitates celu . LKP ricibas programma, Riga
1989, 2 .
26. Latvijas Demokratiska Darba partija . Demokraticheskaia partiia truda Latvii . LDDP ,
Riga 1990, 39 ; Latvian edition: 16.
24
27. "Ustav internatsional_'nogo fronta trudiashchikhsia Latviiskoi SSR," Edinstvo (Riga) 14 -
20 January 1991, 4 .
28. R . Gudaitis, "Kriterii otsenk deiatel_'nosti Kompartii Litvy za period 1918-1989 godov, "
Sovetskaia Litva 9 February 1990, 3 .
29. Pre-election platform of 1990, draft, Soglasie (Vilnius) No. 4 (26), 22-28 January 1990 ,
4.
30. Reported by V . Berzins in Rigas Balss 2 November 1988, 6 .
31. "Mneniia i predlozheniia advokatov [Estonii] otnositel 'no gumannogo sotsialisticheskog o
pravovogo gosudarstva," Sovetskoe pravo (Tallinn) 1988 No. 4, 247-253 .
32. Latvijas juristu biedribas statuti . Ustav Obshchestva iuristov Latvii, Riga 1989, 20 pp .
33. Vozrozhdenie (Vilnius) No. 2, 13 January 1989, 4 . Similar formulations are used in the
Statute of the Union of Advocates of the USSR of 1989 (Article 4) and in the Statute o f
the Union of Jurists of the USSR of 1989 (Article 1) . For their texts see Sov . Iust . 1989
No. 14, 29 and No . 16, 12. A law-governed state is also one of the aims of th e
Association of Ukrainian Lawyers (Report on the USSR, 10 May 1991, 36) .
34. U. Lohmus, in Oigusriik. Oigusloomingu probleemid, Tartu 1989, 9-17; see also L .
Auvaart, ibid ., 54-60 .
35. Ilmar Rebane, Voprosy pravovoi reformy, Tartu 1989, 59 pp . ; a section also appeared
in Oigusriik, op . cit . note 34, 18-28 .
36. E. Ridamae, "Glasnost_', demokratiia, Sovetskaia vlast_', pravovoe gosudarstvo, "
Sovetskoe pravo (Tallinn) 1989 No . 4, 219-222 .
37. Ilmars Bisers, "Esmu optimists. Ar Ilmaru Biseru sarunajas Santa Strupisa," Temida
(Riga) 1990 No . 2, 20-21 . See also idem., "Razmyshleniia o demokratii,
25
sotsialisticheskom pliuralizme i sozdanii pravovogo godudarstva," Rigas Balss 1 4
September 1988, 4-5 .
38 . Edgars Melkisis, Latvijas Tautas fronte, op. cit . note 19, 35-39 . See also Edgars
Melkisis, J . Strautmanis, Cina (Riga), 23 September 1988; A . Usacka, "Kalab mums
vajadziga tiesibu reforma," Padomju Latvijas komunists 1989 No. 12, 83-84; Russian
edition : 91-92 .
39. "V zashchitu prav lichnosti . Beseda a Narodnym deputatom . . . Iu . Boiarsom, "
Kommunist Sovetskoi Latvii 1990 No . 2, 24. See also the interview with L. Spiridonov ,
a Leningrad law professor, entitled, "Pravovoe gosudarstvo i chelovek," ibid . No . 9/10 ,
79-85 .
40. Ilmar Tammelo, "The Rule of Law and the Rule of Reason in International Lega l
Relations," Logique et Analyse, Vol. 6 (1963) 335-368 ; idem, "Is the Rule of Law
Doomed," Oesterreichische Zeitschrift fur offentliches Recht 23 (1972), 107-111, cited
in: Ilmar Arens, Folia Bibliographica . A Bibliography of Works Published by Estonian
Scholars in Exile, Vol . 6 : Jurisprudence . .1942-1976, Stockholm 1977, 27, 29 .
41. Henn-Juri Uibopuu, "Shag k pravovomu gosudarstvu?" Sovetskoe pravo (Tallinn) 198 9
No . 2-3, 105-110; also in the Estonian edition . On an article by the British philosopher
Karl Popper discussing the Rule of Law in the Lithuanian newspaper "Soglasie" 1989
No . 13-15 see Leonid Karpov, "0 pravovoi demokratii," Soglasie (Vilnius) No. 5 (27) ,
29 January - 4 February 1990, 9 .
42. Rezoliutsiia seminara iuristov respublik sovetskoi Pribaltiki, Vozrozhdenie (Vilnius) No .
8, 22 November 1988, 7 .
26
43. The conferences were organized in Riga by the People's Front of Latvia (Cina, 9
October 1988), the Association of Jurists of Latvia (Padomju jaunatne, 24 November
1988), the Procuracy of the Latvian SSR (Cina, 16 December 1988) and at the Universit y
of Latvia as an "Olympic competition" for law students (Padomju jaunatne, 15 October
1988) .
44. Ilmars Bisers, op. cit . note 34, 21 .
45. Viktors Skudra, op . cit. note 16, Kommunist Sovetskoi Latvii 1988 No . 12, 81 .
46. Imanuels Kants, Prolegomeni, Riga 1990, 159 pp .
47. O. Skvortsov, "Robert von Mol_' .. .," Sovetskoe pravo (Tallinn) 1989 No . 2-3, 145 -
148 .
48. Ibid . 145 .
49. S .A . Beliatskin, "Retseptsiia russkago prava v Estonii i Latvii", Zakon i sud (Riga) 1
(1929) No. 2, col. 39-50. See also Legal Sources, op. cit . note 4, 21-22; N .S .
Timasheff, "The Impact of the Penal Law of Imperial Russia on Soviet Penal Law", 1 2
American Slavic and East European Review 1953, 444 .
50. G .F. Shershenevich, Kurs torgovogo prava 3 vols ., Riga, 5th ed ., 1924, 515 & 624 &
450 pp . ; I .M . Tiutriumov, Grazhdanskoe pravo lur_'ev (Tartu) 1922, 543 pp . ; another
ed ., 1927 ; idem, Zakony grazhdanskie .. ., 2 vols ., Riga, 6th ed ., 1923 ; idem ,
Konkursnoe pravo, Kaunas 1931, IV, 304 pp .
51. N.N. Rozin, Ugolovnoe sudoproizvodstvo, Riga, 4th ed., 1924, 587 pp . ; I.M .
Tiutriumov, Ustav grazhdanskogo sudoproizvodstva, 2 vols., Riga, 5th ed ., 1923, 2490
& 104 pp . ; idem, Grazhdanskii protsess, Iur_'ev 1923 . 27
52. F . List [von Liszt], Mezhdunarodnoe pravo v sistematicheskom izlozhenii . With a
contribution on private international law by Boris E . Baron Nol_'de, Riga, 4th Russian
ed ., Riga 1923, 574 & 184 pp .
53. D. Grimm, Lektsii po dogme rimskogo prava, Riga, 5th ed ., 1924, 421 pp . ; I.A.
Pokrovskii, Istoriia rimskogo prava, Riga, 5th ed., 1924, 571 pp .
54. V. Gribovskii, Obzor lektsii po gosudarstvennomu pravu, Vyp . 1-2, Riga 1922, 112 &
176 pp . ; F. Kokoshkin, Lektsii po obshchemu gosudarstvennomu pravu, Riga, 3rd ed . ,
1924, 306 pp . ; G .F. Shershenevich, Obshchaia teoriia prava, Riga 1924, 805 pp .
55. S .A . Korf, Administrativnaia iustitsiia v Rossii, 2 vols ., St . Petersburg 1910 .
56. On Boris Baron Nolde (1876-1948) see A . Makarov, Zakon i sud (Riga) 8 (1937) No .
1 col. 3445-3452 and 4 Osteuropa-Recht 1958, 287-288 .
57. M.A. Reisner, "Chto takoe pravovoe gosudarstvo," Vestnik prava 1903 No. 4, 85-86.
Mikhail Andreevich Reisner (von Reusner), (1868-1928) was born in the family of a
government official of Baltic noble descent in the Vilnius guberniia . His biography can
be found in Deiateli SSSR i Oktiabr 'skoi Revoliutsii, Part 2, Moscow 1926, col . 197-
205 .
58. V.N. Rennenkampf, Pravovoe gosudarstvo i narodnyi suverenitet, Odessa 1908, cited in :
E.V . Kuznetsov, V.F . Savel_'ev, "Pravovoe gosudarstvo (iz istorii russkoi pravovo i
mysli)", Pravovedenie 1991 No . 1, 51 . In 1880 the topic of Rechtsstaat was discussed
by another member of the family, probably the father of V .N. Rennenkampf: N .K .
Rennenkampf, Ocherki iuridicheskoi entsiklopedii 2nd ed., Kiev, St. Petersburg 1880 ,
58 .
28 59. See O.O. Gruzenberg, Ocherki i rechi, New York 1944, 53 .
60. On publications by Tiutriumov see notes 50 and 51 .
61. Istoriia Tartuskogo universiteta 1632-1982, Tallinn 1982, 182, 194 ; P. Vihalem ,
"Iuridicheskii fakul_'tet Tartuskogo universiteta 1919-1940," Sovetskoe pravo (Tallinn)
1977 No . 6, 400 .
62. M.E. Kazmer, Sotsiologicheskoe napravlenie v russkoi dorevolutsionnoi pravovoi mysli ,
Riga 1983, 131 pp . (On pravovoe gosudarstvo : 101-108) .
63. Nikolai Maim, "Parlamentarizm i suverennoe gosudarstvo," Acta et commentationes
Universitatis Tartuensis, Vol . 14 (1929), 214 pp . On Nikolai Maim see Istoriia . . ., op .
cit . note 61, 181-182, 193 ; on Vihalem, see op. cit . note 61, 399 .
64. Karlis Dislers, Demokratiskas valsts iekartas pamati Riga 1921, 144 pp ., 2nd ed., 1931 ,
184 pp . ; idem, Ievads Latvijas valsts tiesibu zinatne Riga 1930, 211 pp . ; idem, "Tauta s
pasnoteiksanas princips tiesiskas valsts pamatojuma," Tieslietu Ministrijas Vestnesi s
(Riga) Vol . 12 (1931) 161-175 ; idem, Autoritaras valsts iekartas pamatprincipi, Riga
1937, 89 pp . ; idem, Ievads administrativo tiesibu zinatne Riga 1938, 42-43, 222 . On
Dislers see Mans Vecvagars, Neatkariba (Riga) 1990 No . 24 (11 May), 6 ; on his
deportation in 1940 see Zvaigzne (Riga) 1990 No . 11 (June), 6-7 .
65. Mykolas Romeris, Lietuvos konstitucines teises paskaitos, Kaunas 1937, 527 pp . ; idem ,
Valstybeitjos konstitucine teise, Kaunas 2 vols., 1934-1935 .
66. Vecvagars, op. cit . note 64, 6-7 .
67. M . Remeris (= Romeris), Lietuvos konstitucines teises paskaitos, Vilnius 1990, 512 .
68. Viktors Skudra, in Latvijas PSR Tautu foruma materiali 1988 . g. 10 . un 11 . decembri,
29
Riga 1989, 63; Russian edition : Materialy foruma narodov Latviiskoi SSR 10 i 1 1
dekabria 1988g ., Riga 1989, 69 .
69. Janis Penikis, Atmoda (Riga) 1989 No . 4 (30 January), 4-5 ; Kulturas Fonda avize (Riga) ,
March 1990, 15-18 ; the original version appeared in : Akademiska dzive (Minneapolis ,
MN) No. 26 (1984) .
70. Sovetskaia Estoniia, 6 February 1990, 1 .
71. A. Bels, in Par realismu domasana .. .Materialu krajums par .. .A. Jakovleva urturesano s
Latvijas PSR . . ., Riga 1988, 36: Russian edition : Za realizm mysli .. .Sbornik materialo v
o prebyvanii chlena politbiuro sekretaria TsK KPSS A .N. Iakovleva v Latviiskoi SSR 8 -
11 avgusta 1988 g ., Riga 1988, 39 .
72. Narodnyi kongress, op. cit . note 17, 194 ; see also 216 .
73. Mneniia, op . cit . note 31, 250 .
74. Ibid .
75. Rebane, Voprosy .. ., op. cit . note 35, 14-25 ; idem, in Oigusriik, op. cit . note 34, 18-28 .
76. Ia. Dzenitis, "V chem sila zakona," Pravda, 9 December 1990, 3 .
77. Decree of the CM of the Latvian SSR, 14 February 1989, "On Measures for Stopping
an Unjustified Mechanical Increase of the Population and for Regulating Migratory
Processes in the Latvian SSR," Sovetskaia Latviia, 18 February 1989, 2 .
78. G . Morozli, "Budet li pravovoe gosudarstvo?", Edinstvo (Riga) 5 April 1989, 1 .
79. Sovetskaia Estoniia, 25 August 1989 .
80. Excerpts published by Julia Wishnevsky, "the 'Law-Based State," Soviet Style", Report
on the USSR 1991 No. 10, 1-2 .
81. Bisers, "Esmu optimists," op . cit . note 37, 21 .
30
82. Address of 11 April 1990, Vedomost Verkhovnogo Soveta Estonskoi SSR 1990 No. 12 ,
item 210 .
83. I.A . Teder, in Tartu Riiklik Ulikool . Studia iuridica, Vol. 6 : Historia et theoria Tartu
1990, 124 .
84. Zinatne un mes (Riga) 1990 No. 1, 7 (continued in No. 2) ; also in : Tevzemes avize
(Riga) 1990 No . 6-7, 10-11 .
85. A. Gorbunovs, Cina (Riga) 31 March 1989, 1 .
86. Letter, 20 April 1990, English translation : Documents Pertaining to Relations betwee n
the Republic of Lithuania and the USSR, Vilnius 1990, 31-32 (mimeogr .) .
87. Address, 22 November 1990, Vedomosti Litovskoi Respubliki 1990 No . 34, item 826 .
88. V.A . Rzhevskii, Zh . I. Ovseian, "Konstitutsionnye osnovy sotsialisticheskogo pravovog o
gosudarstvo", Pravovedenie 1990 No . 1, 4 .
89. Ridamae, op. cit . note 36, 222 .
90. John Lloyd, "Law Governed State," Financial Times, 12 March 1990, VIII .