The Supreme Court of Thailand (), located in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, is the highest Thai court of justice, covering criminal and civil cases of the entire country. Operating separately from the

Administrative Court An administrative court is a type of specialized court on administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are usually co ...

and the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

, the judgment from the Supreme Court is considered as final. Neither

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

nor

respondent A respondent is a person who is called upon to issue a response to a communication made by another. The term is used in legal contexts, in survey methodology, and in psychological conditioning. Legal usage In legal usage, this term specificall ...

can request for any further

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

s. A

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

of the Supreme Court can be appointed from among justices of the

Court of Appeals An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellat ...

having seniority, extensive knowledge and experience. The current president of the Supreme Court is Judge

Chanakarn Theeravechpolkul Chanakarn Theeravechpolkul () is a Thai jurist the president of the Supreme Court of Thailand The Supreme Court of Thailand (), located in Bangkok, Thailand, is the highest Thai court of justice, covering criminal and civil cases of the ent ...

History

Historically, there was no Supreme Court since a Thai monarch would adjudicate all disputes as the sole supreme judicial authority. Citizens appealed directly to the King along his route to places out of the Palace. This system existed until the early Rattanakosin Era; the reign of

King Rama IV Mongkut (18 October 18041 October 1868) was the fourth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama IV. He reigned from 1851 until his death in 1868. The reign of Mongkut was marked by significant modernization initiatives and diplomati ...

. During the reign of

King Rama V Chulalongkorn (20 September 1853 – 23 October 1910), posthumously honoured as King Chulalongkorn the Great, was the fifth king of Siam from the Chakri dynasty, titled Rama V. Chulalongkorn's reign from 1868 until his death in 1910 was cha ...

, an official department for appeals was set up in the Palace, and in 1891, the king created the Ministry of Justice. The Judicator Act of 1909 was also enacted under Rama V's reign. This act established the Supreme Court as the highest court in the country, and cases were no longer appealed to the king. After Thailand adopted a democratic, constitutional form of government during the

Siamese revolution of 1932 The Siamese revolution of 1932 or Siamese coup d'état of 1932 ( or ) was a coup d'état by the People's Party which occurred in Siam on 24 June 1932. It ended Siam's centuries-long absolute monarchy rule under the Chakri dynasty and resulte ...

, the Judicator Act of 1934 was enacted to amend the previous Judicator Act of 1909. The courts were divided into three levels, namely,

Court of First Instance A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually heard by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). ...

, and the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

Jurisdiction

The Supreme Court of Thailand acts as the final court of appeal in all civil and criminal cases in the entire kingdom. An order or judgment of the Supreme Court in all kinds of cases is final. A party who challenges an order or a judgment issued by the Courts of First Instances, the Court of Appeal or the Courts of Appeal Regions I – IX, has the right to appeal against the lower court's order or judgment, following the conditions and circumstances as required by law. Specialized laws such as the procedural laws on labor, tax, intellectual property, and international trade allow parties to appeal against judgments of such specialized courts directly to the

Composition

Flag of the President of the Supreme Court of Thailand

The Court consists of the president, vice presidents, secretary, and a number of justices. In the present-day juridical system, the president of the Supreme Court is also the head of the Courts of Justice. At least three justices of the Supreme Court form a

quorum A quorum is the minimum number of members of a group necessary to constitute the group at a meeting. In a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature), a quorum is necessary to conduct the business of ...

. At present, the Supreme Court has divided the justices internally into 25 quorums. Each quorum has three justices; the most senior justice in a quorum is the presiding justice of the quorum. The Supreme Court has ten divisions for specialized cases, namely, * Division of Juvenile and Family * Division of Labour * Division of Taxes * Division of Intellectual Property and International Trading, including copyright law of Thailand * Division of Bankruptcy * Criminal Division of Holders of Political Positions *Division of Commerce and Economy * Environmental Division of the Supreme Court * Division of Consumer * Division of Election Cases Specialized divisions have nine justices in each division, as assigned by the president of the Supreme Court, and, also, one chief justice or presiding justice supervising the work of the division. The judgment will be made by the majority of votes among justices in the quorum after each of justice's written opinion and oral statement to the meeting before making a decision.

Functions and procedure

After being reviewed and brought through the initial process of administrative work, the appeals against judgment of the lower courts to the Supreme Court will be assigned to justices of the Supreme Court by the president of the Supreme Court on a case-by-case basis. This process often takes approximately 15 days. However, there are some kinds of special cases such as intellectual property, tax, bankruptcy, and, international trade which are the exception. In addition, some criminal cases in which the defendants are in custody during the trials are given priority. The

adjudication Adjudication is the legal process by which an arbiter or judge reviews evidence and argumentation, including legal reasoning set forth by opposing parties or litigants, to come to a decision which determines rights and obligations between th ...

process of the quorum of the Supreme Court occurs when the court allows plaintiff and respondent to present the factual and legal issues from their sides in the

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

. This process can take from a few months to the expiry of the case, depending on the decision the senior judges of the case made as appropriate. Afterward, a draft of judgment or order is released. The examination process by the Research Division or approval process by a certain specialized division can then take place. This process can take up to a month. The procedure ends with the transmission of a case file with a judgment of the Supreme Court to the Court of First Instance for pronouncement.

References

External links