ABOUT COMPENSATION OF NON-PECUNIARY DAMAGE TO LEGAL ENTITIES IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA
The article explores the issue of compensation for non-pecuniary damage to legal entities in the Republic of Bulgaria: legislation, judicial practice, legal doctrine are analyzed; practice of The European Court of Human Rights with the participation of Bulgarian companies and organizations is given. The author notes that the Bulgarian legislation, unlike the judicial practice, does not make exceptions to the subject composition of persons entitled to compensation for non-pecuniary damage. However, the practice of Bulgarian courts does not recognize the right of legal entities to compensate for non-pecuniary damage. In legal doctrine this is explained by the fact that legal entities do not have a soul, they are not capable of experiencing physical and mental sensations (for example, pain, suffering, psychological negative experiences, emotions), so they can not suffer moral harm. Such a narrow understanding of moral harm advocates compensation for non-pecuniary damage to legal entities are called survivals of “socialist realism”. The Bulgarian legal literature notes that the current practice in Bulgaria, which denies compensation for non-pecuniary damage to legal entities, is outdated and inadequate. Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights admits compensation for non-pecuniary damage to legal entities. Such compensation shall be recovered if there are appropriate grounds and conditions, if the breach is material. In the author’s opinion, the practice of the European Court of Human Rights on the issue of compensation of non-pecuniary damage to legal entities should be considered as a mandatory judicial custom in the national legal systems of the countries - parties to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. It is concluded that in the Republic of Bulgaria, as well as in any other country of the Romano-German legal family, legal entities should have the right to compensation for non-material damage, the content of which differs from the content of moral harm inflicted on citizens.