Institute for State Law and Sciences

The Institute for State Law and Sciences was established in Bulgaria in 1947.  It is the only unit of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in which fundamental and applied research in the field of law is conducted.

The Institute is actively involved in research and consultancy activities for different state bodies at all levels of government. It also trains legal professionals and doctoral candidates, and scholars from the Institute teach in many law faculties throughout Bulgaria.

The Institute has long-lasting traditions in: studying legal theory and history; researching current legislation and its implementation; and analysing Bulgarian law and EU law. 

The Institute comprises four Departments:

1. The Department of Public Law conducts theoretical and methodological research in legal history; history of the Bulgarian State; constitutional law; administrative law; financial and tax law; and sociology of law.
2. The Department of Civil Law researches general civil law, including contracts, property law, intellectual rights law, corporations and trade law, family law and customers’ law.
3. The main research areas of the Department of International Law are international public law and international private law, rule of law and human rights in international law, fight against international terrorism, harmonisation of Bulgarian law with the EU law.
4. The Department of Criminal Law studies the State’s criminal policy; new criminal legislation and its implementation; reform of the criminal justice system; crime control; and crime prevention theories.

The Institute publishes the law journal, Pravna Missal, and the book series, Trudove na Instituta za pravni nauki.

Further information about the Institute for State Law and Sciences is available here.