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IN MEMORIAM – Prof. JIVKO STALEV (17.05.1912 – 20.02.2008)

  • He left us blessed only ten days before entry into force of the new Civil Procedure Code of 2007 repealing the Civil Procedure Code of 1952 drafted by him. He was lucky not to live till 01.03.2008.
  • For half a century Jivko Stalev was the Goethe of Bulgarian law. A crystal logical thought, a stunning erudition, an encyclopedic mind and a hypnotizing style grabbed the hearts of several generations of Bulgarian law graduates in university auditoriums, academic sessions or court halls. Reading him or listening to him created the feeling of a spiritual bath tube where one enjoys the relaxation. His doctor’s dissertation “Res Iudicata in Civil Procedure” (1959) remains the diamond in the treasury of Bulgarian legal science- as well as the eight editions of his textbook on civil procedure law, the annual reviews of supreme court decisions on civil procedure and dozens of other memorable publications. I have not come across a line by him that is disrespectful of his teachers or predecessors.
  • For prof.Stalev the law was the divine logos and the legislator- the holly spirit which creates it. His mistake was that behind the collective name “legislator” he did not recognize the politicians who often break the romantic perception for law through their legal twaddle in State Gazette.
  • A caprice of destiny brought together in the small and fabulous holiday village of Koprivshtitsa a number of lecturers from the law faculty of the Sofia university- Jivko Stalev, Petko Stainov, Liuben Vassilev, Michail Andreev, Kostadin Liutov, Stefan Braykov. The sense of proximity was for them a mutual inspiration. As if there the clouds of mind got darker to give the lightning. In a summer Koprivshtitsa evening sitting at a glass of raspberry juice prof. Stalev asked me: “Valentin, are today’s judges impartial?” and I replied:”Professor, some are quite partial” but he continued: “Our law is ill – it has no clear goal”.
  • A tree can best be measured when it lies on the ground. The near future will show who really suffer from the loss of prof. Jivko Stalev, who sincerely miss him and who note his death like sky watchers the fall of a star. At the place of an old oak tree grow up quickly ambitious bushes which previously blamed the oak for failing to reach the sky. Those bushes I warmly advise to read Alexander Pushkin’s poem of 1819 “The Resurrection” telling the story of a master’s picture which was redrawn by an ambitious successor but through the years the fake paint faded away and the masterpiece recovered its original glamour.

FAREWELL, MASTER ! SEE YOU IN THE PAGES OF YOUR WISE BOOKS.

25.02.2008 Sofia

Valentin Braykov