In the legal system of the Soviet Union, economic law was the legal theory and system under which economic relations were a legal discipline independent of criminal law

Criminal law

Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...

 and civil law

Civil law (common law)

Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...

. In the Law of the United States

Law of the United States

The law of the United States consists of many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States...

 and some other legal systems this approximately corresponds to the commercial law

Commercial law

Commercial law is the body of law that governs business and commercial transactions...

 (business law).

Economic law

In the Soviet legal system, the purpose of the economic law is to regulate the relations arising from the economic activities. The theory of the independence of the economic law was pursued after the 21st Congress of the CPSU of 1959, with the principal proponent being V.V. Laptev. After debate, this position was codified by the decrees of the CPSU and the USSR Council of Ministers during 1970–1975 and finalized in the 1977 Soviet Constitution

1977 Soviet Constitution

At the Seventh Session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation on October 7, 1977, the third and last Soviet Constitution, also known as the "Brezhnev Constitution", was unanimously adopted...

.