Brothers Conrado and Alvaro Rodrigues Lopez donated the land in Tenerife to General Francisco Franco on condition that the territory would be used strictly for military purposes - to host barracks, training grounds and a shooting range.
However, the Spanish Defense Ministry stopped using the base for defense purposes in the 1990s and sold land parcels on its territory to a private housing development firm.
"The territory of the base will be transferred to the heirs of brothers Rodrigues Lopez, who donated the land personally to Francisco Franco in 1937 and have been demanding its return for a decade," the spokesman said.
The Supreme Court decided that by selling the land to a private civilian company, the Defense Ministry violated the provisions of the donation deed and must return the territory of the base to its rightful owners, as well as pay compensation for the sold land parcels.
Spain has never conducted a land reform, and some landowners claim rights to land dating back to the Middle Ages.
Dictator Francisco Franco, also known as Caudillo or Generalisimo, was the leader and later formal head of the state of Spain from October 1936, and of all of Spain from 1939, until his death in 1975.
