There are hundreds of courts in Thailand with four main categories, namely:
(1) The Constitutional Court. This court is only one in number and is typically called the political court, located at Pahurad District in Bangkok with nice presiding judges of old age not exceeding 70, however. It is empowered to interpret whether the provision of law in question is contradictory to the constitution or not. If it is, the Court will rule it unconstitional and, as a result, unenforceable.
Another power is to dissolve the political party that has committed a wroong political act like buying votes in election, for example. This Court has its own procedure taking the general principles of civil procedure, however, i. e., to try a case in the court before the parties of the case.
(2) Administrative Courts. They are divided into two classes – preliminary (regional and central ) and the supreme administrative courts. They are empowered to handle administrative cases, like a case between the high department of the government v. the contractor who was claimed to have been in breach of the contract of construction of a certain highway, for example. And it has the power to interpret whether the sub – law in question is in conflict with its main law. Some of these courts including the highest one are situated in Bangkok with other regional one
in each of the Kingdom’s nine regions. They have their own procedure also similar to civil procedure.
(3) Courts Martial. The courts of this kind are empowered to handle only criminal case in which
soldiers are prosecuted. These courts belong to the Ministry of defense. They are generally called military courts. They have their own procedural law.
(4) Courts of Justice. These courts are administered by an independent judicial body. The trial Courts of justice are located in different convenient places throughout the Kingdom, with an intermediate court of appeals in Bangkok and one regional court of appeals in each of the
Kingdom’s inie regions and the Supreme Court in Bangkok, headed by Mr. Chief Justice who is
regarded as the head of The Judicial Power standing on the same level as The Prime Minister and The Speaker of The Parliament.
Courts of justice include the bankruptcy court, juvenile courts, the intellectual property court, magistrate’s courts, provincial courts, the taxation court, the labor court, criminal courts and civil courts.
Provincial courts have general power over all civil and criminal matters that do not subject to the jurisdiction of special courts.
The two Procedural Codes are designed for courts of justice with general principles applicable to all other courts also.
The Civil Procedure Code is a private law, where the plaintiff is entitled to choose the court of competent jurisdiction to file his plaint. Ant it is the plaintiff’s right to withdraw the plaint so submitted. The person having the power to object to such withdrawal is the defendant. If they compromise, the court must conform to their mutual agreement. And the parties of all civil cases can come to a compromise at any time even after the case is final they can agree to cancel the judgment.
By HUAHIN LITIGATION LAWYER
WWW.K-HUAHINLAWYER.COM