Review

This article is dedicated to the scholarly and pedagogical legacy of Doctor of Law, Professor Abram Lvovich Rivlin – one of the founders of the modern Kharkiv school of criminal procedural law and judiciary. The authors highlight that despite his significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian legal science, Rivlin remains relatively unknown to the general public and underrepresent-ed in academic discourse. Through historical retrospection and biographical analysis, Rivlin’s figure is presented within the context of an era marked by complex, and at times tragic, socio-political transformations that profoundly influenced scholarly work, the lives of academics, and the evolution of legal science. The methodological foundation of the article includes a range of scientific approaches: historical, biographical, source-based, hermeneutic, comparative legal, dialectical, and systemic analysis. The source base comprises archival documents, scholarly publications, educational materials, and recollections from the scholar’s colleagues. The article aims to restore Rivlin’s name to the col-lective memory of the legal community, honour his academic legacy, and reflect on his role in the history of Ukrainian jurisprudence. The authors explore the development of Rivlin’s academic and teaching career within the con-text of Ukrainian legal evolution from the 1920s to the 1970s. His early publications are analysed, with particular attention given to his research on interrogation in criminal proceedings – work that formed the basis of his PhD dissertation and influenced the formation of the normative framework of Ukraine’s Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). The article outlines Rivlin’s contributions to the methodology of teaching judiciary, which remains relevant today. Based on archival sources, the authors clarify Rivlin’s birth date and the beginning of his teaching career, offering deeper insight into his role in shaping Ukrainian legal education. The article also examines Rivlin’s involvement in drafting the 1960 CPC of the Ukrainian SSR, his contributions to rethinking the doctrine of evidence – especially his critical stance on the previ-ously widespread notion that a defendant’s confession was the primary proof of guilt. Rivlin’s role as a supervisor of graduate students, scientific editor, and co-author of the first Ukrainian textbook on criminal procedure (1971) is highlighted, along with his research into the theoretical foundations of prosecution, judicial review, legality and truth in criminal proceedings, and the organization of courts, prosecution, and defence. The conceptual significance of Rivlin’s ideas for domestic science of criminal procedure is em-phasized, as is the importance of his scholarly legacy for the development of the criminal procedure school at the Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University.