[PeterisP]

Studying Soviet law outside the context of how it was "applied" in practice is very likely to lead to misunderstandings.

There's an saying from the time "Был бы человек, а статья найдётся" (lit. "If we have the man, we'll find the law paragraph [necessary for a conviction]" attributed to either Beria or Stalin, but considered illustrative of the applied law.