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Supreme Administrative Court of the Czech Republic

The Supreme Administrative Court is the highest judicial body of the Czech Republic in matters of administrative justice.[2] The Constitution places it in the court system alongside the Supreme Court and the high, regional and district courts.[1] It sits in Brno.[3]*

Predecessor, 1918–1952

Czechoslovakia adopted the institution of a Supreme Administrative Court in one of its first laws, No. 3/1918. Its first president was Ferdinand Pantůček; after his death in 1925 Emil Hácha was appointed.[3] The number of judges grew from the original 26 to about fifty.[3] Act No. 166/1949 moved the court's seat to Bratislava. It operated there until the end of 1952, after which constitutional act No. 64/1952 abolished administrative justice.[3]

Re-establishment in 2003

Article 91 of the 1993 Constitution restored the Supreme Administrative Court, but it was actually set up only ten years later.[1][3] In a ruling of 27 June 2001 the Constitutional Court struck down, with effect from 1 January 2003, the fifth part of the Code of Civil Procedure that governed administrative justice.[3] The Code of Administrative Justice of 21 March 2002 took effect on 1 January 2003.[2] Contrary to the government's proposal, the court's seat was placed in Brno.[3] In January 2003 President Václav Havel appointed Josef Baxa president of the new court.[4] The court started with 13 judges and had 22 by the end of 2003.[3] Since 1 September 2006 it has occupied a group of three originally separate buildings at Moravské náměstí 6, having moved from rented premises on Masarykova Street. The core of the group is a palatial house built in 1869–1871 by the Brno builder Moritz Kellner.[3]

Powers and leadership

Administrative courts decide, among other things, on actions against decisions of public administration bodies, protection against inaction of an administrative body, protection against its unlawful interference, and jurisdictional disputes.[2] The Supreme Administrative Court ensures the consistency and lawfulness of their decisions by ruling on cassation complaints, and it monitors and evaluates their final decisions.[2] It consists of the president, vice-president, presidents of colleges, presiding judges of panels and other judges.[2] Since 2008 it has served as the disciplinary court for judges and public prosecutors, and since 2009 also for bailiffs.[3] Josef Baxa was succeeded in 2018 by Michal Mazanec. On 2 February 2022 the President of the Republic appointed Karel Šimka president of the court.[3]

September 2026

On 29 September 2026 the court upheld the cassation complaint of the dismissed dean of the Catholic Theological Faculty of Charles University. The Municipal Court in Prague must review the lawfulness of his dismissal again.[6] The next day it rejected the cassation complaint of the Russian Enterprise for the Management of Property Abroad against the freezing of 61 properties in Czechia. The court held that it is enough to prove that the sanctioned entity is able to control the assets.[5]

Sources

  1. Zákony pro lidi
  2. Zákony pro lidi
  3. Nejvyšší správní soud
  4. Česká justice —
  5. ČTK / České noviny — 2026-09-30
  6. ČTK / České noviny — 2026-09-29

* The sources are collected and the preliminary text of this entry is drafted with artificial intelligence, on the instruction of the editorial staff; the entry has not yet been verified by an editor — report a mistake.