The Coulomb dry-friction law I~lult =tg eco+Cc, (i) (where ~C is the angle of friction, C C is cohesion) is a decisive regularity in the theory of soil mechanics and in the solution of practical problems of the design of foundations of structures and earth structures. For a fixed shear plane (in experiments on shear boxes) Eq. (I) found experimental confirmation with respect to cohesive and cohesionless soils [I].To use (i) when determining the strength of soils in the general case of a three-dimensional stress state it is necessary additionally to indicate the orientation of the area of the limit state on which this equation is fulfilled.Let the orientation of the normal to the area of the limit state in a system of principal stresses ~ o2~ ~ be determined by the values of the direction cosines l, m, n. Then in conformity with the Coulomb friction we have I~, lult = tg ~c~, +OK.(2)The practical use of (2) without an indication of the values of l, m, n is impossible.In various theories of the strength of soils the values of ~, m, n are assigned differently.For example, in the Mohr--Coulomb theory I = cos(45~177 m = O~ n = /1 --12; in the Mises--Schleicher--Botkin theory 12 = m 2 = n 2 = 1/3. It can be considered that the theory for describing the strength of soil is true if equal values of the parameters ~ and C are obtained from the results of experiments with a different relationship between principal stresses oi, 02, ~3 and with a different history of variation of these stresses on approaching the state of limit equilibrium.Only in this case, having experimentally established the values of ~ and C in the particular case of a three-dimensional stress state, can one use these same values for an arbitrary relationship between ~i, 02, ~3, which occurs when solving practical problems of soil mechanics.The inconstancy of the values of ~ and C can be due also to the inadmissibility of (2) for describing soil strength in the general case of a three-dimensional stress state.We will examine below proof of the validity of the Coulomb dry-friction law (2) in various stress--strain states of the soil and simultaneously the need to determine the orientation of the area of limit equilibrium as a function of increments of plastic deformations.Practical Significance of the Problem Being Discussed.The data of determining ~ in shear boxes and apparatus with independently controlled principal stresses with a different relationship between dl, ~2, a3 ( in processing with the use of the Mohr--Coulomb theory) for a wide variety of clay, sand and coarse-skeletal soils differ considerably.In the case when 02 = ~3 the difference in the values of ~ reach 4~ when 02 = (oi + 03)/2, the difference is l0 ~ and under conditionsof plane strain it is 8 ~ and more of the indicated values. These differences cannot be explained by imperfection of the design of the shear box or apparatus with independently controlled principal stresses, since, on one hand, there are varieties of soils where the results practically coincide and, on the other, th...