The article revisits a well-known feature of socialist and some
post-socialist legal systems, namely
the publication by the highest
courts of factually or even legally
binding "explanations on the questions of judicial practice”. These are viewed
as a means to ensure the uniformity and coherence of case law. They take the
form of abstract legal statements that do not refer to any particular case and
frequently introduce new legal rules under the guise of statutory in- terpretation. The present analysis of this peculiar type of judicial law-making is based on several examples
taken from the guidelines of the Supreme
Court of the Russian
Federation, issued between
2015 and 2020, to assimilate the recent large-scale
reform of the Russian Civil Code. As evidenced by the examined directives, the
Supreme Court wields considerable autonomy in interpreting statutory law and
often significantly departs from the legislative provisions.
Key words: sources of law,
supreme court guidelines, interpretation, judicial law-making, post-socialist
legal system, reform of the Russian Civil Code.