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Shattering Myths: The Curious History of the Bulgarian Law of Obligations

2019, 82, No. 1

Middlesex University, School of Law

University College London


Publication date

02.03.2020

Publishing model

open access

License type


Field

Law

Discipline

law

Language of publication

English

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Abstract

While Bulgarian scholars concur that Bulgaria’s Law of Obligations and Contracts, which was enacted in 1950 and which is still in force today following cosmetic changes in the early 1990s, is an original Bulgarian legal text, archival and comparative research shows that it is heavily based on the Italian Codice Civile of 1942. Why would a communist country seek inspiration in a country with a Fascist ideology? Exploring the reasons behind this legislative choice as well as the reasons why this ‘dark’ secret was buried for so long challenges traditional taxonomies of comparative law, reveals the peculiar patterns of legal change, including the key role of the legal scholar in the process, and demonstrates the power of comparative law in shattering myths in legal history.

Keywords:

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