9.  On 20 June 1967 the applicants executed a deed of sale and gift (kupní a darovací smlouva) under which M.R., as vendor, agreed to sell them a farmhouse in Srch and to transfer the adjoining agricultural land to them without consideration. At the time, the system for transferring agricultural holdings was by a sale of the house and gift of the adjoining land that was farmed by a socialist cooperative. The approval of the cooperative and the agreement of the competent national committee were required before the deed of sale and gift could be executed. Purchasers of land were required to give an undertaking that they would work for the cooperative.
According to the applicants, M.R. wished to secure his release from his obligation to work for the socialist cooperative and could only do so by transferring the land. It was he who had proposed the arrangement, as he wanted to sort out his domestic affairs. Under the statutory provisions then in force, the applicants were obliged, as a condition for purchasing the house, to give an undertaking to work for the cooperative as a replacement for M.R. They paid him 30,000 Czechoslovak korunas on top of the purchase price of the house, as compensation for the value of the transferred land. 10.  In 1991 M.R. signed a declaration that he had transferred the land of his own free will. In the applicants' submission, that declaration constituted a rider to the deed confirming M.R.'s consent. 11.  However on 1 July 1993 M.R. brought a civil action against the applicants seeking, inter alia, rescission under section 8(3) of the Land Act (Law no. 229/1991) of the part of the agreement that concerned the transfer of the agricultural land. 12.  In a judgment of 30 September 1994, the Pardubice District Court (okresní soud) found in favour of M.R., holding, inter alia:
“[The applicants] have invited the Court to dismiss M.R.'s actions on the ground that he transferred his land of his own free will to sort out his domestic affairs and that in consideration [for that transfer] they had assumed his obligation to work for the agricultural cooperative. ...
Section 8(3) of the Land Act (Law no. 229/1991) provides that if a landowner has donated land to a private individual under duress or transferred it without consideration under a contract for the sale of an adjoining building and at the date this Act entered into force the land was still in that person's possession, the court shall, on application by a person with standing, either (a) order rescission of that part of the sale agreement by which the land was donated or transferred without consideration, or (b) order the current owner to reimburse the price of the land. ...
The Court ... finds that the aforementioned conditions were satisfied in the present case and therefore finds in favour of [M.R.]. It has been established that [M.R.] is the person with standing within the meaning of Law no. 229/1991, that is to say the person who gave [the applicants] – the obligees within the meaning of that Act – the agricultural land in connection with the sale of the building ... It has also been established that [the applicants] are currently in possession of the land. Consequently, the Court ... rescinds the section of the deed of sale and gift executed by the parties on 20 June 1967 that provides for the transfer of ownership of the land in question without consideration. ... It does not consider that the 'minuted rider to the deed' dated 6 April 1991 constitutes a valid rider to the deed of sale and gift. The statement in which [M.R.] expressly confirmed that he had sold his immovable property voluntarily and at the agreed price has no ... value in law, as it was made before the amendment to the legislation on land law that enabled him to seek restitution was passed. In fact, [M.R.] denies that he intended to sell the land [to the applicants] and the intentions of both parties are set out in the notary's minutes ... The Court finds that the [applicants'] argument that a decision in favour of [M.R.] would entail a violation of Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms is unfounded, as the latter was obliged to transfer ownership of the agricultural land used by the agricultural cooperative without consideration.” 13.  In a judgment of 29 February 1996, the Hradec Králové Regional Court (krajský soud) upheld the District Court's judgment rescinding the relevant part of the deed of sale and gift. It found that M.R. had given, and thus de facto transferred without consideration, the agricultural land to the applicants as part of the agreement for the sale of the adjoining house. The Regional Court also noted that the terms “donate” and “transfer without consideration” were identical. At the same time, it dismissed an application by the applicants for leave to appeal on points of law (dovolání), holding that the request for a ruling on the construction of the words “transfer without consideration” in section 8(4) of the Land Act did not raise a question of crucial legal importance (rozhodnutí po právní stránce zásadního významu). 14.  Article 239 § 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that leave to appeal on points of law will be granted if the court hearing the appeal on points of law (dovolací soud) considers that the impugned decision gives rise to a question of crucial legal importance. In reliance on that provision, the applicants appealed to the Supreme Court on 14 June 1996, alleging that the ordinary courts had construed the Land Act erroneously by confusing two incompatible concepts: “donations” and “transfers without consideration”. 15.  In a judgment of 29 July 1997, the Supreme Court (Nejvyšší soud) refused the applicants leave to appeal on points of law, holding that the Regional Court's judgment did not give rise to a question of crucial legal importance. It noted that it had considered the question of the definition of the terms “donations” and “transfers without consideration” in a number of previous decisions in which it had construed the Act as not requiring duress to have been used if the agricultural land had been transferred without consideration. The Supreme Court's judgment was served on the applicants at the earliest on 11 September 1997. 16.  On 12 November 1997 the applicants lodged a constitutional appeal (ústavní stížnost) in which they alleged that the domestic courts' decisions had violated the constitutional guarantees embodied in Articles 1, 11 §§ 1 and 3 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Listina základních práv a svobod), namely equality of rights for citizens and protection of property. They also sought an order abrogating section 8(4) of the Land Act. 17.  On 4 August 1998 the Constitutional Court (Ústavní soud) declared their appeal inadmissible as being out of time. It held, inter alia:
“The Constitutional Court considers that litigants are not entitled to bring proceedings in the Supreme Court that do not qualify for leave under the statutory rules or to make an application in such proceedings for an order quashing decisions of the ordinary courts, unless a refusal to hear [the appeal on points of law] would constitute a denial of justice and, consequently, a breach of the right to a fair trial. The [Supreme Court's] judgment does not constitute a decision on the final statutory remedy for the protection of rights ... The constitutional appeal could only be brought against the appeal court's decision, which became enforceable on 15 May 1996. Since it was not lodged until 17 November 1997, it fails to satisfy the condition set out in section 72(2) of the Constitutional Court Act. For this reason, the Constitutional Court has no alternative but to declare the appeal inadmissible, as it was lodged after the expiry of the statutory time-limit.”