The Institute for the State and the Law at BAS held the Sixth National Conference of Doctoral Students in the Field of Legal Sciences

From 9 to 12 June 2016, the Sixth National Conference of Doctoral Students in the Field of Legal Sciences was held at the Sunny Beach resort. The conference was organised by the Institute for the State and the Law (ISL) at BAS, an established national centre for the training of doctoral students in the field of legal sciences. Thirty-seven doctoral students from the ISL and from almost all law faculties in the country took part with papers. At the opening of the conference, Prof. Emilia Drumeva, PhD, noted that this was a useful forum for communication, exchange of ideas and testing of theses. The participants met together, and their papers were grouped into four panels: public law, international law, civil law and criminal law sciences.

The panels on public law sciences and on international law sciences were chaired by Prof. Emilia Drumeva, PhD. In the panel on public law sciences, problems in the fields of constitutional law, administrative law and procedure, and financial and tax law were presented for discussion, as well as problems of legal sociology. Aleksandra Kovacheva opened the work of the panel with a paper on "The Idea of the Free Mandate", followed by Georgi Zagorov, who spoke on "The Concept of 'Legitimate Interest' in Administrative Law and Procedure". A paper entitled "The Constitutional-Law Institution of the State of Emergency: Problems and Possible Solutions" was presented by Borislav Tsekov. Irina Paleva presented her views on the participation of the prosecutor as an interested party in the contestation of administrative acts through administrative procedure. Velina Spirova familiarised her colleagues with the problems of the tax legal relationship and the subjects of tax law. Mariyana Atanasova-Tumbakova spoke on the topical question of the prospects for the development of e-government in the municipal administration. Rayna Georgieva had prepared a paper on "Decentralisation as a Trend in the Development of the European Model of Constitutional Justice". Byulent Mehmed examined the legal status of persons placed under full guardianship and accommodated in specialised institutions providing social services. The topic proposed for discussion by Milka Lambeva was "Appeal against the Decisions, Actions and Omissions of Contracting Authorities in Public Procurement under the PPA", while Mihaela Dotsova had chosen the problem of "The Election of an Acting Mayor". The last two papers were presented by Natasha Tseneva, "The Protection of Citizens' Rights and the Constitutional Court in the Republic of Bulgaria", and Konstantin Grigorov, "The Right to Contest the Normative Acts of the Municipal Council".

In the panel on international law sciences, ten papers were presented. The discussion was opened by Andon Tashukov, who addressed the problem of the effect of European Union law according to the constitutions of the Member States. The topic of EU law was continued by Dimitar Angelov, with a paper devoted to the concept of "national security" in European Union law, and by Petar Vasilev, who focused on the role of the Court of Justice of the EU in the development of European integration, with a view to the consolidation of the fundamental principles of EU law. These were followed by the papers of Diyan Dichev, "Political and Legal Aspects in the Caucasus Region", Ivan Bodlev, "Political Process and Modernisation in the Russian Federation", and Enyo Savov, "The Place and Role of the UN Security Council in Contemporary International Relations". The panel was continued by Simona Veleva, who focused on the problem of hate speech and freedom of speech, analysed through the prism of the case law of the ECtHR and the development of Bulgarian case law. The subject of private international law was addressed by Tsvetan Krumov ("The Use of Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes in the Financing of International Commercial Transactions") and Tsvetelina Dimitrova ("Reform of the Investment Dispute Settlement System: From Ad Hoc Arbitration to a Permanent Investment Court"). The panel was closed with the paper of Viktor Serafimov on "The Role of the UN in the Process of Development and Consolidation of the Law of International Treaties".

The panel on civil law sciences, chaired by Chief Assist. Prof. Nikolay Kolev, PhD, was opened with a discussion of the influence of Roman law on the modern institutions of contributory fault of the creditor in contractual liability and of fiducia and the trust, topics presented by Andrean Slavchev and Genka Mozzhuhina respectively. The debatable points concerning the registration of the assignment of a claim secured by a mortgage, and accession as an original or derivative mode of acquisition, were presented by Hristo Simeonov and Desimira Yurukova. The series of topics devoted to current issues of commercial law included analyses of commercial representation in the light of the decisions of the Court of Justice of the EU, of the initial public offering and admission to trading on a regulated market of bonds, and of life insurance linked to investment funds, presented in turn by Svetla Kacharova, Yasen Nikolov and Zhivka Stoilova-Nikolova. The theory of labour law was represented by two papers, by Vanya Miteva-Dimitrova and Anna Filcheva, devoted respectively to the conversion of the legal relationship under a contract for additional work into a principal employment relationship and to the employer's obligations under Art. 140, para. 3 of the Labour Code and Art. 285, para. 1 of the Labour Code to provide food and drinks to workers or employees. The panel ended with the topics on civil procedure presented by Mihaela Kasabova-Hranova and Tolik Genchev, which addressed the prohibition on issuing a judgment upon admission of the claim under Art. 237, para. 3, item 2 of the Civil Procedure Code and the disputed points of limitation within enforcement proceedings.

Within the panel on criminal law sciences, chaired by Chief Assist. Prof. Ognyan Velev, PhD, three papers were presented, all of them devoted to criminal procedure. Adelina Hadzhiyska addressed the topic "Lawfulness and Soundness of the Judicial Acts Issued in Criminal Proceedings". These were followed by the papers of Stanislava Natcheva, "Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Strengthening of Certain Aspects of the Presumption of Innocence and of the Right to Be Present at the Trial", and Mariya Hristozova, "The Criminal Charge within the Meaning of Art. 6 of the ECHR".

The presentation of each paper in the four panels (within 10 minutes) was followed by a discussion, in which a number of significant and interesting questions were raised, demonstrating the high level of legal knowledge of the doctoral students. In the panel on international law sciences, the guests from the Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Prof. Władysław Czapliński, PhD, Przemysław Saganek, PhD, and Szymon Zaremba, also took an active part in the discussion. The participants expressed their satisfaction with the conference, which gives them an opportunity to exchange ideas not only on the specific topics of the papers presented but also on the topics of the dissertations they are preparing, and declared their wish for similar forums to be held in the future. At the closing of the conference, Prof. Drumeva familiarised the doctoral students and guests with the history of the Institute for the State and the Law and its contribution to the preparation and training of specialists in the various fields of law and to the development of legal science in Bulgaria.

The papers presented at the conference will be published in the collection "Scientific Works of the ISL", and the participants will receive a certificate from the Institute for the State and the Law and the Training Centre at BAS.