On the Relationship between Legislation and Supreme Court Guidelines in a Post-Socialist Legal System: Using the Example of the Explanations of the Russian Supreme Court on the Reform of the Civil Code

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.