On the question of the legal nature of the Industrial Labor Statute of 1913

Abstract

The publication is devoted to the problem of determining the legal nature of the monument of Russian labor law - the Industrial Labor Statute of 1913 (ILS) through the prism of the theory of legal systematization. In the science of labor law, the creation of the Statute is most often characterized as an official incorporation of labor (factory) legislation of the Russian Empire. Meanwhile, some features of the ILS correspond to the features of other types (forms) of law-systematizing practice. Clarification of the nature of ILS will deepen scientific knowledge in the field of legal systematization, unify approaches to its types (forms) at the general theoretical, historical and sectoral levels of legal doctrine. A uniform understanding of the problem addressed in the publication is also important from an educational and methodological point of view. In general, the theoretical and legal analysis of the structure and content of the ILS has revealed the mixed legal nature of this systematized act. The Statute is the result of the official incorporation and consolidation of Russian labor legislation at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The signs of a consolidated act are manifested in the Statute as a separate legislative act with its own name and other requisites, structure and sequence of presentation of legal material. The lawmaking nature of consolidation, which is not inherent in incorporation, is noticeable in these features of the ILS. The statute is an incorporated act because the laws it presents have not been substantially revised. The Statute has kept the content of the legal regulation of labor relations unchanged. Also, the adoption of the ILS largely did not invalidate those factory laws whose provisions were subject to incorporation, although in fact many laws ceased to apply.