The current Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria was preceded by three constitutions: the so-called Constitution of Turnovo, adopted on April 16, 1879, the Constitution of December 6, 1947, the Constitution of May 18, 1971. None of these constitutions provided a specialized state body for constitutional control. "The Constitution of 1971 explicitly stated that it was the National Assembly that could control that a law it had passed did not contravene the Constitution (Art. 85)." The new Constitution adopted on July 12, 1991 by the Grand National Assembly provided for the establishment of a Constitutional Court (Chapter 8). On 30 July 1991, the Grand National Assembly, acting as the National Assembly, adopted the Constitutional Court Act (in force since 20 August 1991). On October 3, 1991 the judges of the Constitutional Court took the oath of office. On December 6, 1991, the Court approved the Rules of the Organization and Activities of the Constitutional Court, and by the end of the same year it passed two decisions on cases it had been approached with. This fact in itself accounted for the necessity of a Constitutional Court in a country that aimed to be democratic and law-abiding.
Like most of the Constitutional Courts in Europe, the Bulgarian Constitutional Court exercises post-promulgation (after the act’s publication) on the consistency of with the Constitution, and not pre-promulgation control. Besides, the Bulgarian Constitutional Court is vested with a competence to interpret the Constitution (Art. 149 para 1 subpara 1). These decisions of the Constitutional Court are binding on all State institutions, including the National Assembly. They have an important preventive as they rule out the passage of legislation that contravenes the Constitution.