Article 63: Aggravating result must be ordinary
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าผลของการกระทำความผิดใดทำให้ผู้กระทำต้องรับโทษหนักขึ้น ผลของการกระทำความผิดนั้นต้องเป็นผลที่ตามธรรมดาย่อมเกิดขึ้นได้
English translation
If the result of the commission of any offence causes the doer to receive a heavier punishment, that result must be one which can ordinarily occur.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 63 states the causation test for result-aggravated offences in Book 1: a heavier penalty tied to a consequence applies only where that consequence ordinarily arises from the conduct. It is distinct from the intention test in Section 59 paragraph two, because the aggravating result need not be intended or foreseen; the test is objective proximate causation. The provision governs offences such as assault causing grievous injury or death and robbery or snatching-theft with aggravated consequences, filtering out results that are too remote to be a natural outcome of the act. It thereby limits how far the base offence can be escalated by an unusual or freak result.
Why this matters in practice
Section 63 gives the defence a causation argument against result-based aggravation: if the more serious outcome (grievous injury or death) was not an ordinary consequence of the act, the heavier penalty should not attach even though the base offence stands. Because the aggravating result does not depend on intent or foresight, disputes usually turn on medical and factual causation, whether the outcome naturally followed. The defence should scrutinise intervening causes and the ordinariness of the result. In serious cases where the aggravated grade drives a much higher sentence, experienced criminal counsel should test the causal chain closely.
Décisions de la Cour suprême interprétant cette section
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Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 2529/2564 (2021)
Where gang-rape causing death carries a heavier penalty regardless of intent or foresight, the death must nonetheless be a result that can ordinarily occur under Section 63.
Addressing the aggravated form of rape under Section 276 paragraph three (former), the Court held that because the heavier punishment applies whether or not the doer intended or foresaw the result, the resulting death of the victim must be a result that ordinarily occurs under Section 63.
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Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 2969/2556 (2013)
The aggravated results of snatching-theft (injury, grievous injury, or death) are results causing a heavier punishment under Section 63, not results flowing from intent or foresight under Section 59 paragraph two.
The Court held that the provisions increasing punishment for snatching-theft where the victim suffers injury, grievous injury, or death are merely aggravating-result provisions under Section 63, not proof that snatching-theft involves violence as an element under Section 59 paragraph two.
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Arrêt de la Cour suprême n° 7262/2554 (2011)
An argument that the victim's later death was an ordinary result of the defendant's act under Section 63, so that the defendant should be punished more heavily, raises facts different from those pleaded. Where the complaint charged only grievous bodily harm, that argument is one not stated in the complaint and not properly raised in the courts below, and it cannot be taken on further appeal.
The complaint, adopted by the two co-plaintiffs, alleged that the defendant shot the second co-plaintiff causing grievous bodily harm. After they had appealed, the second co-plaintiff died, and they argued on further appeal that the death was an ordinary result of the defendant's act under Section 63 and made him liable to heavier punishment. The Supreme Court refused to decide the point: it rested on facts different from those in the complaint and had not been raised below, so it was barred by section 249 paragraph one of the Civil Procedure Code read with section 15 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 8 Supreme Court decisions (1979 to 2021)
Décisions de citation sélectionnées
- Decision 1867/2553 (2010)
- Decision 5721/2544 (2001)
- Decision 2723/2537 (1994)
- Decision 2529/2564 (2021)
- Decision 7262/2554 (2011)
- Decision 2969/2556 (2013)
- Decision 6068/2544 (2001)
- Decision 3204/2522 (1979)
Cette liste est sélectionnée automatiquement, en privilégiant les jugements qui reposent sur cet article plutôt que sur ceux qui se contentent de le citer lors du prononcé de la peine. Elle n'a pas encore été examinée par le cabinet.
Le plus souvent cité aux côtés de
- Article 78 5
- Article 59 5
- Article 91 3
- Article 339 3
- Article 249 3
Sections qui apparaissent le plus souvent dans les mêmes jugements que celui-ci. Le chiffre correspond au nombre de décisions.
Calculé sur l'ensemble du corpus de 83 652 décisions de la Cour suprême du cabinet, de 1921 à 2026. Le décompte est exhaustif ; la plage d'années indiquée élimine les valeurs aberrantes rares afin de refléter la répartition réelle des citations. Ces chiffres sont calculés par nos soins et ne constituent pas des statistiques officielles de la Cour. Comment nous les comptons et ce que nous avons mesuré
Foire aux questions
Dois-je avoir voulu le résultat le plus grave pour que la sanction la plus lourde s'applique ?
Non. En vertu de l'article 63, la peine la plus lourde s'applique si le résultat découle normalement de l'acte, que vous l'ayez voulu ou non. Le critère est celui de la causalité naturelle, et non celui de l'intention.
Un résultat inhabituel ou aberrant peut-il alourdir la peine ?
Sauf si ce n'est pas une conséquence normale de l'acte. L'article 63 exclut les résultats qui ne découlent pas naturellement de l'acte ; un résultat improbable ou exceptionnel ne devrait donc pas entraîner la peine plus lourde.
Guides connexes sur ThaiLawOnline
Citer cette section
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Citation simple
Penal Code, s. 63 (Thailand) -
Citation académique
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 63. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/fr/thai-penal-code/section-63/ (accessed 30 août 2026). -
Citation thaïlandaise
ป.อ. มาตรา 63 -
Lien permanent
https://www.thailawonline.com/fr/thai-penal-code/section-63/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/fr/thai-penal-code/section-63/"><p>Si la commission d'une infraction entraîne une peine plus lourde pour son auteur, cette peine doit être une peine qui peut normalement se produire.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 63 (Thailand): <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/fr/thai-penal-code/section-63/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.