The District Court in Semily is a court of first instance, whose decisions are reviewed on appeal by the Regional Court in Hradec Králové.[1][2]
The Walderode Case
The District Court in Semily has repeatedly dealt with a restitution lawsuit filed by Johanna Kammerlanderová, widow of Karel des Fours Walderode, who is seeking the return of more than a thousand plots of land in the Semily, Jablonec and Liberec areas.[2][3]
In 2025, the court issued a partial judgment ordering the return of a 1,554-square-metre plot in Turnov-Daliměřice, while dismissing the claim for almost sixty other plots.[2] At that time it ruled only on the plots that could be most easily identified, which is why the judgment was partial.[2] The court based its decision on a finding of the Constitutional Court of 19 September 2024, according to which the 1947 decision of the Ministry of the Interior, by which Karel des Fours Walderode retained Czechoslovak citizenship, must be taken as the basis.[1][2]
Reversal of the Decision by the Appellate Court
On 13 October 2026, the Regional Court in Hradec Králové overturned the decision of the District Court in Semily and remanded the case for further proceedings.[1][2][4] According to a statement by Roman Heyduk, the plaintiff's attorney, the regional court requires the lawsuit to be amended to reflect the current status of the disputed plots, including their current numbering, for which an identification of the parcels prepared by the cadastral office, comparing the situation in 1945, 1991 and the present, is to be used.[1][2] Attorney Heyduk described this task as roughly a year's work for the cadastral office, given that around a thousand plots are affected.[1][2]
According to Heyduk, the regional court also stated that the plaintiff's claim to restitution is justified and that this question will not be reassessed.[2][3] The District Court in Semily is therefore now to deal with the current designation of the plots and decide which of them can be returned and for which financial compensation is due.[1][2]
Several parties appear as defendants in the proceedings before the District Court in Semily, including the town of Turnov, the National Heritage Institute, the Office for Government Representation in Property Affairs, and the state enterprise Lesy České republiky.[1][2]
Chronology
- — The Regional Court in Hradec Králové overturned the decision of the District Court in Semily in the Walderode restitution case and remanded the matter for a new hearing, requiring a more precise identification of more than a thousand disputed plots. Novinky.cz Czech News Agency / České noviny
Pages linking here
Sources
- Novinky.cz — 13 October 2026
- ČTK / České noviny — 13 October 2026
- ČT24 — 13 October 2026
- Echo24 — 13 October 2026