Article 16: Powers fixed by organizing laws

Décisions de la Cour suprême interprétant cette section

1. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 21697/2556 (2013)

   A court of first instance may conduct an inquest and make an inquest order only where the case is within its jurisdiction. Where the person alleged to have caused the death is a conscript serviceman, who must be prosecuted in the military court under sections 13 and 16 (3) of the Military Court Organisation Act B.E. 2498, his case is not within the jurisdiction of the civil court, so that court cannot conduct the inquest, even though the inquest is not itself a prosecution of him.

   The applicant argued that an inquest is not a prosecution of the person who caused the death, so the civil court could hold it even though he was a conscript serviceman. The Supreme Court disagreed. The inquest is a special procedure that the Code requires the court to take part in under Section 150 paragraphs five and eleven, and a civil court may hold it only in a case within its own jurisdiction. Since the alleged offender had to be prosecuted in the military court, the rejection of the application was correct, and the fact that the military prosecutor had sent the file over did not create jurisdiction.

2. Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 2803/2554 (2011)

   Section 16 provides that a police officer's power to act under the Criminal Procedure Code must be in accordance with the laws and regulations governing that officer's powers and duties.

   Rejecting a challenge to how the accused were handed over between police units, the Court applied Section 16 to confirm that police authority under the Code is measured against the laws defining their powers and duties. On the facts, the transfer to specialist investigators fell within that authority and the inquiry was lawful.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.