Another region where early and rad ical transformations of family law took place was the Bolshevik Soviet Union. The modernisation of family law was considered so urgent that reforms were initiated immed iately after the 1917 Revolution, in the middle of the turmoil of the civil war In pre-Revolutionary Russia, civil marriage and divorce did not exist. People were subjected to the ecclesiastical rules of their confession. For the largest part of the Russian population this meant the canonical rules of the Orthodox Church. In 1917, the Bolsheviks introduced civil marriage as the only legal form of marriage, together with the most undemand ing divorce procedure of that time, proclaimed the full legal equality of women,abolished all distinctions in the legal status of legitimate and illegitimate children and introduced the paternity action. 57 It was as if the prison gates had been opened: during the first months after these reforms, in Moscow alone 5,000 divorce petitions were filed. 58 Later on, the reforms went even further. In 1926, informal marriage was given the status of a legal marriage. The official registration of marriage was not abolished but lost its constitutive meaning and was considered merely a formality that was not indispensable for the creation of a legal marriage. 59 The only constitutive element of marriage was, as in Roman society and in the early Middle Ages, the consensus of the parties. Marriage became a private formless transaction, as it had been in Roman law since the classical period. This, of course, had a great impact on divorce procedure. Divorce before the registration officer( the only form of divorce at that time)was considered just a formality: an optional form for the termination of both registered and unregistered marriages. Marriage came to an end not by the pronunciation of divorce by an official, but rather by the declaration of the will of one or both of the spouses. This very much resembles pre-Constantine Roman law. Neither the summoning nor the appearance of the other spouse was considered essential. If one of the spouses did not show up at the registration office, divorce was not suspended, but the absent spouse was simply informed about the termination of his or her marriage by letter(the so-called 'divorce by postcard). This brings to mind the roman divorce letter(repudium) What were the reasons for these rapid and radical reforms? why did the bolsheviks give such priority to the reform of family law? I would suggest two main explanations. The first is that the communists consid ered the church to be their most dangerous rival in their struggle for the people's minds and souls. The secularisation of family law was considered to have the highest priority because it was a crucial instrument by which to roll back the influence of the Church. The militant atheism of the Bolsheviks may account for the radical character of the reform and the barbarian method s they did not hesitate to use for its Implementation. 60 A second observation that is important here, is that the reforms were not rooted in purely communist ideology alone, but fitted in well with ideas that were shared by the whole Russian opposition movement. The origin of the ideas on which the reforms were based was not communist or even socialist, but late liberal. 61 The absence of all political freedom had S7Decree of 18 December 1917"0 grazhdanskom brake, detiakh u vedenii knig akton grazhdanskogo sosnoiania', SU RSFSR, 1917, N 1, st 160; Decree of 19 December 1917o rastorzhenii braka,, SU RSFSR. 1912 RSFSR,1918N76/7t818 st. 152, Kodex zakonov ob aktokh grazhdanskogo sosnoiania, brachnom, semeinim i opekynskom 58Genkin, Novotzkii and Rabinovich(1949),p. 419 59Raevich(1927),p.426 imPlementation of the reforms was accompanied by terror and repression a ga inst the clergy and the religious 6ISee also Kerblay(1996),p. 145Another region where early and radical transformations of family law took place was the Bolshevik Soviet Union. The modernisation of family law was considered so urgent that reforms were initiated immediately after the 1917 Revolution, in the middle of the turmoil of the civil war. In pre-Revolutionary Russia, civil marriage and divorce did not exist. People were subjected to the ecclesiastical rules of their confession. For the largest part of the Russian population this meant the canonical rules of the Orthodox Church. In 1917, the Bolsheviks introduced civil marriage as the only legal form of marriage, together with the most undemanding divorce procedure of that time, proclaimed the full legal equality of women, abolished all distinctions in the legal status of legitimate and illegitimate children, and introduced the paternity action.57 It was as if the prison gates had been opened: during the first months after these reforms, in Moscow alone 5,000 divorce petitions were filed.58 Later on, the reforms went even further. In 1926, informal marriage was given the status of a legal marriage. The official registration of marriage was not abolished but lost its constitutive meaning and was considered merely a formality that was not indispensable for the creation of a legal marriage.59 The only constitutive element of marriage was, as in Roman society and in the early Middle Ages, the consensus of the parties. Marriage became a private formless transaction, as it had been in Roman law since the classical period. This, of course, had a great impact on divorce procedure. Divorce before the registration officer (the only form of divorce at that time) was considered just a formality: an optional form for the termination of both registered and unregistered marriages. Marriage came to an end not by the pronunciation of divorce by an official, but rather by the declaration of the will of one or both of the spouses. This very much resembles pre-Constantine Roman law. Neither the summoning nor the appearance of the other spouse was considered essential. If one of the spouses did not show up at the registration office, divorce was not suspended, but the absent spouse was simply informed about the termination of his or her marriage by letter (the so-called ‘divorce by postcard’). This brings to mind the Roman divorce letter (repudium). What were the reasons for these rapid and radical reforms? Why did the Bolsheviks give such priority to the reform of family law? I would suggest two main explanations. The first is that the communists considered the Church to be their most dangerous rival in their struggle for the people’s minds and souls. The secularisation of family law was considered to have the highest priority because it was a crucial instrument by which to roll back the influence of the Church. The militant atheism of the Bolsheviks may account for the radical character of the reform and the barbarian methods they did not hesitate to use for its implementation.60 A second observation that is important here, is that the reforms were not rooted in purely communist ideology alone, but fitted in well with ideas that were shared by the whole Russian opposition movement. The origin of the ideas on which the reforms were based was not communist or even socialist, but late liberal.61 The absence of all political freedom had 57Decree of 18 December 1917 ‘O grazhdanskom brake, detiakh. u vedenii knig aktov grazhdanskogo sosnoiania’, SU RSFSR, 1917, N 1, st. 160; Decree of 19 December 1917 ‘O rastorzhenii braka’, SU RSFSR, 1917, N 10, st. 152, ‘Kodex zakonov ob aktokh grazhdanskogo sosnoiania, brachnom, semeinim i opekynskom prave’, SU RSFSR, 1918, N 76/77, st. 818. 58Genkin, Novotzkii and Rabinovich (1949), p. 419. 59Raevich (1927), p. 426. 60Implementation of the reforms was accompanied by terror and repression against the clergy and the religious population. 61See also Kerblay (1996), p. 145