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 Post-doctoral Researchers, organised by the ISL-BAS, was held.

The conference was attended by 37 doctoral students and post-doctoral 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 the BAS.

The conference took place 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 the ISL. In her opening address she welcomed the participants and noted that over 10 years this forum has established itself 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 the BAS and one each from UNWE and SWU "Neofit Rilski" took part. Papers were presented on current legal problems of legal aid, the assignee as the holder of the right of action under Art. 135 of the Obligations and Contracts Act, particular features of the regime of the real right of use, 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, in the course of which the participants had the opportunity 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 post-doctoral researchers from the ISL, there were representatives of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Plovdiv University "Paisii Hilendarski", the Medical University – Sofia, as well as of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the BAS. This contributed to a thorough analysis and discussion of various aspects of law and legal science. The presentations and the discussion focused on topics relating to penal populism, the application of coercive administrative measures, deviation risks in the electoral process, the procedure for voluntary performance 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 judicial authorities, as well as the epistemological dimensions in the study of the relation between Ius and Iustum.

In the "International Law Sciences" panel, 12 doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers took part. 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 practice of national courts in the field of consumer protection; regulation of the use of artificial satellites; and the recognition and enforcement of insolvency court rulings in other states.

In the "Criminal Law Sciences" panel, papers were presented by four doctoral students and one post-doctoral researcher in the field of criminal procedure. The post-doctoral 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 was prompted by real cases and problems in the application of this institution, and the possible solutions proposed through amendments to the legislation met with their support. The doctoral students presented: contemporary trends in the development of systems for committing the accused for trial; current questions, unresolved by the legislation and by the practice of its application, concerning the safekeeping of physical 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 regarding the charge in pre-trial proceedings; and questions concerning the guaranteeing of the right to legal aid of the 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.