On some approaches to determining the definition of sources of Russian law in the works of Soviet scientists

The article studies the essential characteristics of the concept of sources of law, shows a variety of positions on the issues of systematization of sources of Russian law, gives a characteristic of conceptual approaches to their classification. The main volume of the work is devoted to the analysis of the doctrine of the sources of law, which was established in the legal doctrine in the Soviet period. The conclusion is made that the content of the concept depends on the specific era in which it was formed. In the Soviet period, a normative approach prevailed in legal thinking with an emphasis on studying the nature of formal sources of law, reflecting the reasons for the legal obligation of a norm. It is indicated that Soviet scientists understood the material conditions of social life as sources of law in the material sense. The author shows that the lack of unification of the term sources of law is determined by the essential polysemicity of its structural elements. Soviet scientists who touched the doctrine of the sources of Russian law, relying on previous works, brought something new to it, expanding the conceptual and categorical boundaries.