Bulgarian Agricultural Legislation at the End of the 19th Century: Advantages and Disadvantages

The agricultural legislation of the last decade of the 19th century is distinguished by an impressive number of laws. In the period from 1894 to 1899, the following were passed and applied: Law on Agricultural Competitions, Law on Township, Law on Repeal of Natural Tithes with Land Tax, Law on Agricultural Funds, Law on Phylloxera, Law on Agricultural Education, Law on Fruit Growing , Model Farms Act. Bills are being drafted on rice sowing and the development of rural merit. The purpose of the present study is to show the place and role of the legislation for reforming agriculture – from backward and routine to modern, highly productive and competitive. Also to show the commitment above all of the agricultural population and that of the district and municipal administrations with the implementation of the laws. Òhe sources used are: documents from the State Archives – Plovdiv, Regional History Museum, Plovdiv, as well as publications in periodicals. Mainly: “Journal of the Bulgarian Economic Society”, “Bulgarian Gathering” and some newspapers such as “Agricultural Protection”, “Mir”, “Plovdiv”. Based on the collected factual material, some more important conclusions and generalizations have been made. First: Laws are necessary to properly regulate the activities of farmers in order to create a qualitatively new model in the development of the industry. Second: Agriculture is related to education and science. For this purpose, the Agricultural Education Act of 1897 was drafted, which created legal prerequisites for educating the population in lower and secondary agricultural schools. Third: The implementation of the legislation shows the relationship between the agricultural population, which constitutes 80% of the country's population, and the central and local governments. Fourth: The laws provide for criminal liability for those who violate the regulations. However, violations and abuses continue to exist, and the number of persons punished is insignificant. At the same time, it is logical to reduce the trust of the population in the institutions. Fifth: A significant shortcoming of the legislation is that it should pay more attention to the promotion of the entrepreneurial spirit and private initiative. They exist anyway, but they are limited in nature. Far from the idea of covering all aspects of legislation in agriculture during the considered period, the research concerns the reasons for its appearance, its meaning and character, systematizes the consequences of the implementation of the laws. With the help of the typological and comparative method, the problems are explained, the similarities and differences are pointed out in solving them in our country and in other Balkan and European countries.