Appeals to the Supreme Court of Thailand in Civil Cases

When litigating a civil case in Thailand it is important to understand the hierarchy of courts and the appeal process so that a litigant can better understand the steps involved and their rights to appeal a decision. At present, Thailand has a civil court hierarchy comprising three levels of courts, these are as follows:

1. The Courts of First Instance which comprise various courts in the Kingdom including the Civil Court, District Court, Provincial Court and various other specialized courts;

2. Appeal Courts; and

3. The Supreme Court of Thailand.

In the past, Thai civil law granted the parties to a civil case the right to initially appeal their case from the Court of First Instance to the Appeal Court provided that they were appealing a question of law or a question of fact, subject to the condition that if the appeal was based on a question of fact then the value of the civil dispute must be at least 50,000 baht. However, if the parties were not satisfied with the decision of the Appeal Court then they had the right to appeal it to the Supreme Court of Thailand (for a final decision) provided that it was based on a question of law or fact but if such final appeal was based on a question of fact then the value of the dispute must have been at least 200,000 baht. This approach remained in place until 8 November 2015 (B.E. 2558) when the Act Amending the Civil Procedure Code (No. 27) of 2015 (“the Act”) came into effect to change the right of litigants to appeal to the Supreme Court in civil cases.

Changes Implemented to Supreme Courts Appeals

The Act has basically removed the automatic right of civil litigants to appeal to the Supreme Court if they have a question of law or meet the dispute monetary threshold for an appeal based on a question of fact.

Under the Act, the process for civil court appeals has been dramatically changed, this is because under the previous system there were too many cases being appealed to the Supreme Court, with many lacking substantial points of law needing to be decided. Thus this situation effectively resulted in justice being delayed.

Under the new process imposed by the Act, if a party (litigant) wishes to appeal to the Supreme Court then they must seek the permission from the Supreme Court before such appeal will be heard by the Court. If the Supreme Court refuses to hear such appeal then the earlier decision of the Appeal Court shall be final. Indeed, section 6 of the Act which amends section 247 of the Civil Procedure Code provides that “in a case where the Supreme Court issues an order denying the permission for the petition, the judgment or order of the Court of Appeal shall be final from the date that the judgment or order is read out.”

How to submit an application to appeal to the Supreme Court

Section 5 of the Act amends section 247 of the Civil Procedure Code by stating that “the petition of the judgment or order of the Court of Appeal may be done when permission has been granted by the Supreme Court”. Sections 5 and 6 of the Act then set-out the process for how a party can submit an application to seek permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, it provides as follows:

Step 1 – The application for the permission to present a petition must be done by submitting a claim together with the petition to the Court of First Instance who issued the judgment or order in such case within one (1) month from the date that the judgment or order of the Court of Appeal is read out;

Step 2 – The Court of First Instance shall then without delay, send such claim together with the petition to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court shall, without delay, complete its consideration for such claim.

Step 3 – The application to seek permission to appeal to the Supreme Court shall be considered and decided upon by a group of judges appointed by the President of the Supreme Court, consisting of the Deputy President of the Supreme Court and at least three (3) judges from the Supreme Court who hold office as Justice of the Supreme Court or above. The decision shall be made by a majority of votes. In case of the votes being tied, the opinion of the side allowing for the petition shall be executed [allowed].

Grounds for an Appeal to the Supreme Court

Under the new approach implemented by the Act, section 6 amends section 249 of the Civil Procedure Code by stating that the Supreme Court may allow a petition under section 247 (petition to appeal to the Supreme Court) when it is of the opinion that the questions in the petition are of such significance that should be considered by the Supreme Court. Section 6 of the Act states that ‘questions of significance’ include the following circumstances:

     (1) Questions relating to public interest or to public order;
     (2) Where a judgment or an order of the Court of Appeal considers important points of law which are conflicting or are in conflict with the general precedent of judgment or order of the Supreme Court;
     (3) A judgment or an order of the Court of Appeal that considers important points of law which do not yet have the precedent of a previous judgment or order of the Supreme Court;
     (4) When the judgment or order of the Court of Appeal is in conflict with the final judgment or order of other courts;
     (5) Where it is for the development of legal interpretation;
     (6) Where there are any other significant questions as prescribed by the President of the Supreme Court which are a judgment or an order of the Court of Appeal, where there is an important conflict of opinion or such judgment or order considers an important point of law which conflicts with an international agreement to which the Kingdom of Thailand abides by.

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