ABSTRACT
Since Mikhail Gorbachev's entry into office legal developments in the Soviet Union have received new impetus. A large quantity of draft legislation and plans is already under consideration, together with important legal reforms, and the application of existing laws is often severely criticized. The most important laws on "more democracy," concerning constitutional change and voting laws, were also not foreshadowed in the legislative plan. The legislative plan essentially contained only laws on press and information, procedure for legal redress of illegal actions by officials as well as on "procedure to discuss questions important to the life of the country by popular referendum, as well as discussion of the draft resolutions of local soviets by the population”. Movement toward developing a state of law has, in addition, been remarkably sluggish, particularly in regard to much delayed penal reform.
