For the first time in Bulgaria District Courts were established after the Liberation from Ottoman rule - by virtue of the "Provisional Rules for the Structure of the Judicial Part", approved by the Commissioner of the Russian Emperor Prince Dondukov-Korsakov on 24.08.1878. The first Law on the Structure of Courts was adopted in 1880. According to it, the judicial system consisted of justices of the peace, district courts, courts of appeal and the Supreme Court of Cassation. This structure of the judiciary applied only to the Principality of Bulgaria. The organisation and administration of Eastern Rumelia, including its judicial system, were regulated by the 'Organic Statute' approved by the Turkish Sultan in April 1879. According to Article 248 of the Statute, the district courts were part of that judicial system. One such court was established in each of the six administrative districts of Rumelia. Thus, for the first time, a District Court was established in Plovdiv. The highest court of the subordinate region, the Supreme Court of Eastern Rumelia, also administered justice in the city. After the Unification the Plovdiv courts became part of the judicial system of the Principality of Bulgaria. The 1934 Law on the Structure of the Courts provided for the functioning of 29 regional courts, after which the Plovdiv Regional Court was established. A District or Regional Court also existed in the city in accordance with subsequent laws on the judiciary. According to Article 119 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria "The administration of justice shall be carried out by the Supreme Court of Cassation, the Supreme Administrative Court, appellate, district, military and regional courts".

 

     Today the District Court in Plovdiv is the second largest in the country. The judicial district coincides with the boundaries of Plovdiv region - it occupies 5973 sq.km. There are 215 settlements in the district and its population is 666 398 inhabitants. The judicial district includes: Plovdiv Municipality, Brezovo Municipality, Kaloyanovo Municipality, Rodopi Municipality, Rakovski Municipality, Sojodineniye Municipality, Hisarya Municipality, Maritsa Municipality, Asenovgrad Municipality, Sadovo Municipality, Laki Municipality, Kuklen Municipality, Karlovo Municipality, Sopot Municipality and Parvomay Municipality.

 

     The court has 61 judges and 118 employees. There are criminal, civil first instance, civil appeal and commercial divisions.           

 

      As of 01.01.2022 there were 1 788 cases pending in the court. The total number of cases of all types received during the year was 6 531. The filings in the court in 2021 were 6,987, in 2020 were 6,725 and in 2019 were 6,568 /Fig. 16/. Of the 6,530 cases filed, 2,393 were criminal and 4,137 were civil, commercial and corporate. Cases pending in all divisions for the whole of 2022 totalled 8,319. This total is from the filings, stayed proceedings and remands from the upper court for further proceedings. Cases to be heard in 2021 were 8,801, in 2020 were 8,108, and in 2019 were 7,798. This leads to the conclusion that Plovdiv District Court remains among the busiest courts in the country at this level in terms of the number of cases filed and completed, as well as in terms of the workload of judges, who heard an average of 12.98 cases per month and completed an average of 10.71 cases per month.