A historical perspective on property ownership in Bulgaria

Under Article 1 of the Treaty of Berlin, signed on 13.07.1878, Bulgaria was constituted as an autonomous, tributary principality under the sovereignty of His Majesty the Sultan, with a Christian government and a national militia.

After Bulgaria’s liberation, the Ottoman Land Code of 1858 remained in force (Dimitar Tokushev, History of the Modern Bulgarian State and Law, 1878–1944, Sibi, 2008; Galabina Petrova, History of the Bulgarian State and Law, Sibi, 2009). Under the Code, much of the land in Bulgaria belonged to the state. Miri land was arable land outside settlements, held by peasants under a tapu, a document evidencing possession. Metruke land was set aside for common use: roads, markets and squares were open to everyone, whereas forests, pastures and similar land could be reserved for a particular settlement or group of settlements. Mevat was uncultivated land that no one could use, reserved for extending the lands of estate holders when necessary. Only mülk land could be privately owned. It included house plots with their outbuildings and plots adjoining settlements, usually gardens, of up to 0.5 decares.

Until the Russo-Turkish War, the Bulgarian population’s right in state land held under a tapu was limited to possession. Bare ownership remained with the Ottoman Empire.

The conversion of Ottoman state land into bourgeois private property began with the agrarian transformation under the Provisional Russian Administration. A series of laws assigned state plots of a specified size to landless peasants and peasants with little land, allowing individuals to acquire title by cultivating and using the plots for a prescribed period. Land was also granted as a gift or for a nominal payment. Sales of property recorded in private instruments were recognised as valid under certain conditions.

The Tarnovo Constitution, adopted on 16.04.1879, declared property inviolable. State property belonged to the Bulgarian Principality. Neither the Prince nor his relatives could use it; a minister was responsible for its administration. The first statute governing ownership of movable and immovable property and the powers it conferred was the Act on Property, Ownership and Servitudes (published in State Gazette No. 29 of 07.02.1904, effective from 01.09.1904 and repealed on 16.12.1951). Chapter III identified those who could own property: the state, districts, municipalities, public institutions, other legal persons and private individuals.