Northern (N): Czechoslovakia (NC). Legal Affairs

A file of reports and legal material concerning the justice system in Czechoslovakia. The documents contain a report produced by the British embassy in Prague on "Socialist Justice in Czechoslovakia", which covers the appointment of judges to Czechoslovak courts; the effects of the process of decentralisation upon the Czechoslovak legal system; and the state of criminal law in Czechoslovakia, with crimes against the state penalised heavily, and the death penalty reserved for "the worst cases of espionage, sabotage, and crimes which 'substantially endanger the republic and Socialism'". The report also comments on the readiness of the Czechoslovak authorities to act outside the law, which serves as both "the ultimate safeguard of socialist justice" and "the worst confession of how inadequate the communists' own laws are". Other documents include copies of several laws outlining the processes of justice in Czechoslovakia, and the punishments for a variety of crimes.