The Bulgarian Lawyers’ Community in Years of Transition (Late 1940s – Early 1950s)

Authors:

Pages: 366-392
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/EDML6821

Abstract:

This paper traces the changes that occurred in the structure and functioning of the Bulgarian lawyers’ community in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The changes in the regulatory framework, which was based on the Soviet model, testify to the gradual distancing of the legal profession from the idea of being free and independent (existing before 9 September 1944) and to its transformation into a profession controlled, planned, and directed by the state. An important feature of the process of reorganization of the lawyers’ community was its cleansing from persons politically inconvenient for the regime. Changes in the organization and activities of the lawyers’ community were an integral part of the process of building the totalitarian state. They were carried out under the leadership and direct control of the Bulgarian Communist Party.

Keywords:

lawyers’ community; 1947 Lawyers Act; Decree No. 270 of 1952; political purge; Bulgarian Communist Party.

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