The modern Bulgarian legal system is influenced by two very important factors: the democratisation and liberalisation of the country`s economy, which began after the fall of the communist regime in 1989, on the one hand, and Bulgaria`s integration into the EU on the other. The Bulgarian legal system has been developed through a profound and closely monitored change in order to achieve coherence with the acquis. The country signed an EU accession agreement in Luxembourg on 25 April 2005 and the expected date for Bulgaria`s accession to the EU is 1 January 2007 (the European Commission`s final report on the country`s accession to the EU will be published in October 2006). Upon accession, EU legislation will become an integral part of the Bulgarian legal system. There are 3 levels in the hierarchy of Bulgarian civil courts: As a branch of the legal system, family law regulates public relations resulting from marriage, kinship or family relations between persons. The new Bulgarian family law was formed and developed under the influence of the principles of the Roman legal system (Civil Code of France, Civil Code). This extremely personal and sensitive issue has been settled for decades under an archaic legal regime established by the canon law of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Gradually, there was a need to enact laws that would better reflect the characteristics of Bulgarian society and the state. The creation of these laws took place mainly through the reception of existing Byzantine collections of canon and secular laws.
For the Special Rapporteur, “the joint management of the courts and the prosecution seems to impede the proper functioning of the accountability system and thus limits the effectiveness of the prosecution of those involved in organized crime and corruption”. The judiciary consists of three distinct law enforcement systems or law enforcement agencies: the court system; the system of the Public Prosecutor`s Office and the system of investigation offices (investigations). The wording of the Trade Bill of 1894 is based on the provisions of the Hungarian Trade Act of 1875 and the Hungarian Bills of Exchange Act of 1876. Much of its content comes from the Romanian Commercial Law of 1887, which is a faithful reproduction of the Italian Commercial Law of 1883. Thus, our commercial law combined the principles and provisions of two legal systems – the German system and the Roman system, which probably led to imperfections in the law – a strong contradiction between the principles and spirit of our private and commercial law. The testator is the rightful owner of his property, but in order to protect the interests of legal successors, the SA contains a separate part devoted to these interests. There are rules by which the legislator has limited the testator to deprive his successors of the right to receive part of his property. The legally indisputable part in favor of legal successors is also regulated by law. There are rules according to which the legislator limits the testator to deprive his legal heirs of the right to receive part of his property. The legal impossibility in favour of descendants is regulated by law.
Property law governs the property of citizens in relation to their direct domination over property. Property law in Bulgaria is governed by the Law on Assets, Property and Easements (LAPS), in force since 1904, which is loosely based on the provisions of the Roman legal system. The legislator has reproduced the relevant texts of the Italian Civil Code. The law corresponds to popular customs, court jurisprudence and a number of special laws on individual matters that were passed at different times before the law. With its entry into force, the final provisions of Turkish legislation in the field of property law were repealed. Questions relating to the possession and protection of property are taken from the Spanish Civil Code of 1889. The French Civil Code, German Civil Law (BGB) and others are also used. Welcome to the website: The law in Bulgaria.
We, the team members of the law firm “Ruskov & colleagues”, have developed this website for all interested parties from German-speaking countries, so that you can have a better overview of Bulgarian law and legal system. The process of forming Bulgaria`s contemporary legal system began with the liberation of the country from Ottoman political rule in 1878. It is characterized by the adoption of the first Bulgarian constitution – the Turnovo Constitution, signed on April 16, 1879, a founding document that defends the most progressive and democratic principles that prevailed in Europe in the nineteenth century. Citizens and legal persons have the right to justice when their rights and freedoms are violated. They cannot be denied judicial protection. “All judicial actors, namely judges, judicial experts, prosecutors and investigating judges, are essential to achieve the main objectives of the current legal reform process,” said Ms Richter. Ms Knaul said at the end of a six-day visit to Bulgaria*, where she discussed the situation of judicial independence, the legal profession and the judicial reform process. (*) The article aims to explain fundamental rights in Bulgarian law and should not be considered as legal adviser. We strongly recommend that you hire a lawyer if you are having difficulty understanding and using these rights. The Ombudsman may intervene by the means provided for by law if the rights and freedoms of citizens have been violated by acts or omissions of State and municipal authorities and public officials. The Ombudsman Act 2003 sets out the rules governing the powers and functions of the Ombudsman.
The new Bulgarian civil law was built on the foundations of the Roman legal system, enshrined in the French Civil Code of 1804, the Italian Civil Code of 1865, but it also borrowed from the legal systems of other countries. Before the liberation of Bulgaria, the Turkish Civil Code – “Medzhele” – was applied. It is quite archaic in form and content, a feudal law that is essentially a set of norms that derive their nature from sacred law – “sharia”. Despite its far-reaching reach, it lacks inheritance and land law standards, and family law is completely absent. Moreover, in the years following liberation, the Turkish Civil Code did not correspond to the development of European legal theory and practice and, in some respects, contradicted our legal traditions. Online resources on Bulgarian legal treaties are insufficient, but some data can be obtained at: A decision addressed to a natural or legal person of a Member State has direct effect. Where the decision is addressed to the Member State, the national application shall have direct effect. Judgments handed down by Bulgarian courts in individual proceedings do not have general applicability, i.e. they are binding on the parties concerned, the other Bulgarian courts and the administration, but not on other third parties (some exceptions apply). Court decisions are therefore not jurisprudence. Of course, individual court decisions can also have considerable practical value and are therefore often of interest to practitioners and are cited in other court proceedings.
However, they remain only arguments in another independent process. EU legislation has direct effect, a principle developed and formulated by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The rule of law of the Community legal order, which has direct and immediate effect, confers on natural and legal persons a number of subjective rights which must be recognised and protected by national courts. This fundamental principle ensures the uniformity of Community law and its strict observance at national level. The immediate effect of regulation is widely recognized. Before the years of Ottoman rule, customary and state laws coexisted within the Bulgarian state. Written law did not have universal application – at first it was administered only in the large administrative centers of state and ecclesiastical courts. There was also a lack of unification of written law, so that different legal acts were regulated differently by the same legal institutions.
