Yuri G. Bassin

Yuri Grigorievich Bassin was born on 28 March 1923 in Artemovsk, Ukraine.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, he served in the Soviet Army and fought at the front. Yuri was a cadet at the Rubtsovsk Infantry School (Rubtsovsk, Altai Region, Russian Federation) and served as a commander of a rifle company at the Baltic Front, a commander of anti-tank guns company and machine-gun company at the Leningrad Front. He was three times wounded and ended the war as a deputy battalion commander at the Leningrad Front; was discharged in 1946 in the rank of a captain.

After the army, Yuri Grigorievich worked and studied by correspondence at the Alma-Ata State Law Institute (1947–1949). In 1949, he graduated cum laude from the Institute and qualified as a lawyer. It was the legal profession that all his subsequent multifaceted activities as a professor, scientist, legislator and legal practitioner were dedicated to.

In 1954, he defended his candidate’s thesis “Capital Construction Contract” in a meeting of the academic council of the Institute of State and Law of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in Moscow. The research advisor for the thesis was Professor G. M. Stepanenko (JD) and his official opponents were Professor I. L. Braude (JD) and Professor B. S. Antimonov (JD).

11 years later, in 1965, Yuri Grigorievich defended his doctoral thesis in legal sciences before the academic council of the Faculty of Law of the Leningrad State University. He was 42 years old, at that time, a fairly young age for a Doctor of Law, despite the fact that the author of the thesis spent several years of his life at the front and embarked on the legal profession and teaching of law later than some others. His will, character, military experience and talent accelerated the maturation of the new big legal scholar.

The scientific specialty code remained the same – 12.00.03. The subject of doctoral thesis was “The Problems of Soviet Housing Law” and the official opponents for the thesis were renowned jurists: Professor S. N. Bratus (JD), Professor V. A. Ryasentsev (JD) and Professor O. A. Krasavchikov (JD), the lead organization being the Kharkov State Law Institute.

In 1966, he was awarded the title of professor. Before that, he was teaching law for about 17 years.

In 1966, he was awarded the title of professor. Before that, he was teaching law for about 17 years.

After graduation, Yuri Bassin worked as a researcher and teacher: acting head teacher of the Almaty Branch of the All-Union Institute of Law Study by Correspondence (1949–1950), teacher of Almaty Law School under the Ministry of Justice of the Kazakh SSR (1950–1952), teacher and assistant at Almaty State Law Institute (1952–1955) and then at the Kazakh State University (1955–1995) where he went all the way from assistant to professor and Head of the Civil Law Chair of the Law Faculty (headed the chair for more than thirty years, from 1969 to 1990); and served ten years as the Dean of the Law Faculty (1975–1985). In 1990–1995, Bassin was a Professor of the Civil Law Chair of the Law Faculty at the Kazakh State University (Kazakh State National University). In 1994–1997 – Professor of the Civil Law Chair at the new Kazakhstan’s legal higher education institution – the Kazakh State Law Institute (later – the University).

Since the 60’s, he was actively partaking in law-making, his ideas, developments and concepts being gradually integrated into the regulatory legal system that existed during the economic, social, political and legal evolution of Kazakhstan.

In that time, Bassin participated in the drafting of the Civil Code of the Kazakh SSR (1963), Code on Marriage and Family of the Kazakh SSR (1969), Housing Code of the Kazakh SSR (1983), and drafted the All-Union laws on property (1990) and the Fundamentals of Civil Legislation of the USSR and the republics (1991). This law-making experience came in useful for him especially in the 90’s, when his experience and knowledge was sought after to form the new sovereign state’s legislation, especially the economic legislation.

Bassin was especially active in his legislative activity during the first decade of the formation of the independent state of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He was the deputy chairman of the working group to draft more than 40 laws (1992–1998), 38 of which were adopted as laws or decrees of the Kazakhstan President having the force of law. Usually working in close and constant cooperation with M. K. Suleimenov and some other colleagues, he participated in the development of about 60 draft laws, Codes and the Constitution. It is known that Bassin’s role was of key importance when developing the concept and structure, analyzing, criticizing, revising and substantiating these laws, of which the most are: the Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan (General and Special Parts), Law on Protection and Promotion of Private Enterprise, Foreign Investment Law, Law on Land, Law on Petroleum, Law on Subsoil and Subsoil Use, Law on Privatization, Law on Bankruptcy, Law on Mortgage, Law on Registration of Immovable Property; Law on Housing Relations, Law on Limited and Additional Liability Partnerships, Law on Individual Entrepreneurship, and other.

In 1995, in the period of development of the currently effective Constitution, the Kazakhstan President’s Decree No. 2292 of 22 May 1995 appointed Yuri Bassin together with other lawyers, such as V. Kim, K. Kolpakov, A. Kotov, B. Mukhamedzhanov , Ye. Nurpeisov, G. Sapargaliyev, M. Sulejmenov and N. Shaikenov, as members of the Advisory Board under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan set up to draft the new Constitution.

In 2000–2002, Yuri Grigorievich was a member of the expert council of the Supreme Attestation Commission of Kazakhstan and was its most respected lawyer, who would always critically and at the same time friendly perform expert evaluation, present and discuss dissertations on civil law and some related subjects and matters, and partake in the discussion of other theses.

On November 5, 2004, Yuri Grigorievich passed away.