10th Conference of Doctoral Students in the Field of Legal Sciences, Young Scientists and Post-doctoral Researchers

On 7 and 8 November 2020, the 10th Conference of Doctoral Students in the Field of Legal Sciences, Young Scholars and Postdoctoral Researchers, organised by ISL-BAS, took place.

The conference was attended by 37 doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers from the Institute for the State and the Law at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", the Medical University – Sofia, the University of National and World Economy, Plovdiv University "Paisii Hilendarski", South-West University "Neofit Rilski", Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at BAS.

The conference was held online via the Zoom internet platform, which was kindly provided free of charge by the sponsor, the law firm "Kamburov & Partners". The event was opened by Prof. Irena Ilieva, PhD, Director of ISL. In her address she welcomed the participants and noted that over 10 years this forum has become established as the most prestigious one at national level, at which doctoral students and young scholars present their research, scholarly inquiries and views de lege ferenda.

The conference was organised in four panels. The first panel, "Civil Law Sciences", was moderated by Assoc. Prof. Andrey Aleksandrov, PhD. The second panel, "Public Law Sciences", was moderated by Chief Assist. Prof. Svetoslav Naumov, PhD. The moderator of the International Law panel was Prof. Irena Ilieva, PhD. The "Criminal Law Sciences" panel was moderated by Chief Assist. Prof. Maria Mihaylova Petrova, PhD.

The conference opened with the panel on civil law sciences, in which five doctoral students from the Institute for the State and the Law at BAS took part, together with one each from UNWE and South-West University "Neofit Rilski". Papers were presented on current legal problems of legal aid, the assignee as holder of the right of action under Art. 135 of the Obligations and Contracts Act, features of the regime of the right of use in rem, the right to build upon an existing structure, and specific issues of registry proceedings and enforcement proceedings. The panel concluded with a discussion of the papers presented, during which the participants were able to put additional questions to the presenters and to discuss a number of questions of theoretical and practical interest.

The "Public Law Sciences" module attracted the largest number of participants – 15 in total. Among them, in addition to doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers from ISL, there were representatives of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Plovdiv University "Paisii Hilendarski", the Medical University – Sofia, and the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at BAS. This contributed to a full analysis and discussion of various aspects of law and legal science. The presentations and discussion focused on topics relating to penal populism, the application of coercive administrative measures, deviation risks in the electoral process, the voluntary enforcement procedure under the Civil Procedure Code, the legal regulation of health information, legal norms and principles, preliminary references, pre-trial practice, migration processes and the legal system, the legal status of the Bulgarian family, the role of registration officials in their interaction with the Registry Agency, legal-sociological parameters in the study of the legal consciousness of employees of the National Revenue Agency, the institution of the Ombudsman in Armenia, electronic administrative services provided by the judicial authorities, and epistemological dimensions in the study of the relation between Ius and Iustum.

Twelve doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers took part in the "International Law Sciences" panel. The papers were presented in several areas: public international law, international relations, EU law and private international law. The subject matter was particularly topical and diverse: problems of the international treaty-making capacity of international organisations; the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction, and the access of foreign terrorist fighters to such means; the sanctions of the UN Security Council and the Sanctions Ombudsperson; problems of international humanitarian law in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the Three Seas Initiative; trends in the development of EU maritime law in the field of maritime safety; the place of EU law in the Bulgarian legal system; challenges and prospects facing a united Europe; the EU–China partnership; the case law of national courts in the field of consumer protection; regulation of the use of artificial satellites; and the recognition and enforcement of insolvency court acts in other states.

In the "Criminal Law Sciences" panel, papers were presented by four doctoral students and one postdoctoral researcher in the field of criminal procedure. The postdoctoral researcher examined the extremely important question of recusal as an instrument with possible dual use. The topic aroused interest among the panellists in criminal procedure, as it is prompted by real cases and problems in the application of this institution, and the possible solutions proposed through amendments to the legislation received their support. The doctoral students presented: contemporary trends in the development of systems for committing the accused to trial; current questions, unresolved by the legislation and by the practice of its application, concerning the preservation of material evidence, which were examined in the context of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights; substantial violations of procedural rules relating to the right of the accused to give or to refuse to give explanations concerning the charge in pre-trial proceedings; and questions concerning the guaranteeing of the right to legal aid of a juvenile accused.

At the end of each panel an extensive and fruitful discussion was held on all the topics presented, in the course of which theoretical and practical views were exchanged.

On the last day of the conference a useful and topical lecture on "Computer Viruses" was delivered by Ms Margarita Oysolova.