The Bulgarian ʻSocialistʼ Law Of Inheritance From 1949, As A Product Of The Italian ʻfascistʼ Civil Code From 1942 – What Ideas For Changes In Bulgarian Inheritance Law Can Be Drawn From The Development Of Italian Inheritance Law?
The Bulgarian ʻSocialistʼ Law Of Inheritance From 1949, As A Product Of The Italian ʻfascistʼ Civil Code From 1942 – What Ideas For Changes In Bulgarian Inheritance Law Can Be Drawn From The Development Of Italian Inheritance Law?

Author(s): Vasil Petrov
Subject(s): Law, Constitution, Jurisprudence, History of Law, Civil Law
Published by: Пловдивски университет »Паисий Хилендарски«
Keywords: succession; law of inheritance; reception of foreign legislation (legal transplant); Italy; Bulgarian; Codice civile of 1942; Bulgarian Inheritance Act of 1949
Summary/Abstract: The old Bulgarian Law of Inheritance from 1890 is a literal translation of the corresponding provisions from the repealed Italian Civil Code of 1865. Surprisingly, however, the Inheritance Law adopted in 1949, during socialism (and in the Stalinist period), which is still in effect in Bulgaria to this day, is also a reception of the Italian Civil Code of 1942. The latter was adopted during the regime of Benito Mussolini. This second Italy-to-Bulgaria reception is smaller in scope, not without modifications, and moreover, was not acknowledged at the time of its adoption. And it's no wonder – there is no way for socialists (or communists) to admit that they adopt legal norms created by the jurists of a 'fascist' regime. The explanation for this unexpected reception (transplant) is the involvement of two prominent Bulgarian 'bourgeois' civil law professors, Ivan Apostolov and Petko Venedikov, in the working group drafting the inheritance bill in 1948. The first part of the report is dedicated to identifying received texts in the Bulgarian inheritance law of 1949 from the Italian inheritance law of 1942. The second part of the report discusses ideas for changes in Bulgarian inheritance law that can be drawn from the development of Italian inheritance law.

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