Five Theses from the Manifesto of Critical Legal Research of the Russian Criminal Procedure Law

Abstract

The manifesto of the Nizhny Novgorod processualist school is aimed at changing the science in the discipline “Criminal procedure, criminal science; investigative activity”. The authors cite five theses from this manifesto in the present article. They deal with such categories as the subject, object, truth, knowledge. Thereby the essence of the critical legal research making up the methodology of new science on criminal procedure is defined. The task consists in the deconstruction of the basic concepts of classical science on law, justice, and proof. The dogmatics of the dominating legal doctrine is exposed to criticism. The text, language, speech activity and sign are suggested as the main objects of criminal procedure reality. The law is interpreted as the text of the law multiplied by its interpretations during pleadings, while the legal proceedings are treated as a language game. The truth represents the result of coordination of statements about the true. The article attempts to give new definitions to the law, legal proceedings, and criminal justice. The authors propose the new interpretation of the purpose of criminal procedure in society which consists in the punishment of violence, necessary for maintaining the social structure in equilibrium. The special attention is paid to the criticism of current trends in the development of the Russian criminal procedure legislation.