{"id":6584,"date":"2026-09-05T19:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T12:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/glossary\/good-faith\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T19:23:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T12:23:55","slug":"good-faith","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/good-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonne foi (Sutjarit) en droit tha\u00eflandais : Articles 5 et 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p><strong>Good faith<\/strong> (\u0e2a\u0e38\u0e08\u0e23\u0e34\u0e15, <em>sutjarit<\/em>, aussi \u00e9crit <em>sucharit<\/em>) is the principle in Section 5 of the Civil and Commercial Code that every person must exercise rights and perform obligations honestly, coupled with the presumption in Section 6 that everyone acts in good faith until the contrary is proved. It is not a vague courtesy: Thai courts use it to decide who keeps land bought from a seller with a bad title, whether a contract term can be enforced to the letter, and whether a spouse can unwind a deal the other made.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>Table des mati\u00e8res<\/h2><nav><ul><li><a href=\"#how-sections-5-and-6-are-applied\">Comment les articles 5 et 6 sont appliqu\u00e9s<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#where-good-faith-protects-or-fails-a-foreigner\">O\u00f9 la bonne foi prot\u00e8ge, ou fait d\u00e9faut, un \u00e9tranger<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#good-faith-compared-with-fraud-and-mere-carelessness\">La bonne foi compar\u00e9e \u00e0 la fraude et \u00e0 la simple n\u00e9gligence<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#frequently-asked-questions\">Foire aux questions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-sections-5-and-6-are-applied\">Comment les articles 5 et 6 sont appliqu\u00e9s<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p><strong>Section 5<\/strong> is a general clause: rights must be exercised and duties performed in good faith. Its companion is Section 421, which makes the exercise of a right for the sole purpose of injuring another unlawful, the Thai version of abuse of rights. <strong>Section 6<\/strong> sets the burden: the party alleging bad faith must prove it, usually by showing that the other side knew the true facts or ignored red flags any careful person would have checked. Because the presumption favours honesty, the winning strategy is to document what was known and when.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Good faith also steers interpretation. Contracts are read according to good faith and ordinary usage (Section 368), so a literal reading cannot defeat the obvious purpose of a term. In unjust enrichment a recipient in good faith returns only what remains, while one in bad faith returns everything with interest (Section 412 and following). The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/thai-legal-system-explained\/\">tribunaux civils<\/a> apply these rules whether or not the parties plead them.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"where-good-faith-protects-or-fails-a-foreigner\">O\u00f9 la bonne foi prot\u00e8ge, ou fait d\u00e9faut, un \u00e9tranger<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p><strong>Land and condominiums.<\/strong> A buyer who acquires for value, in good faith, and registers the transfer at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/land-office\/\">Bureau foncier<\/a> generally keeps the property against earlier unregistered claims (Sections 1299 and 1300). That protection evaporates if the buyer knew of the competing claim or paid a price so low that knowledge is inferred. It is the legal reason <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/due-diligence\/\">v\u00e9rifications n\u00e9cessaires<\/a> matters: a buyer who checked the title, the occupants and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/encumbrance\/\">charges<\/a> can prove good faith.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p><strong>Marriage.<\/strong> When a spouse sells or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/mortgage\/\">pr\u00eats immobiliers<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/marital-property\/\">biens matrimoniaux<\/a> without the consent the law requires, the other spouse may ask the court to cancel the transaction, unless the third party acted in good faith and for value (Section 1480). <strong>Nominee structures<\/strong> cut the other way: a foreigner who arranges for a Thai to hold land for him is not in good faith towards the Land Code and cannot invoke Section 6 when the arrangement collapses. Good faith is irrelevant to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/adverse-possession\/\">possession adverse<\/a>: Section 1382 rewards open possession for ten years, honest or not.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"good-faith-compared-with-fraud-and-mere-carelessness\">La bonne foi compar\u00e9e \u00e0 la fraude et \u00e0 la simple n\u00e9gligence<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Bad faith is not the same as fraud. Fraud (Section 159) is a positive deception that makes a contract voidable; bad faith can be silence, knowledge of a defect, or exercising a right for an improper purpose, and its consequence is usually loss of a protection rather than cancellation of the act. Carelessness is different again, but Thai courts treat wilful blindness to obvious warning signs as knowledge, so negligence can cost the protection that good faith would have given.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>In criminal law the same word appears in the defence to defamation: a statement made in good faith to protect a legitimate interest is not an offence (Section 329 of the Criminal Code), a point worth knowing for anyone facing a complaint over an online review.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"frequently-asked-questions\">Foire aux questions<\/h2>\n\n<div id=\"rank-math-faq\" class=\"rank-math-block\">\n<div class=\"rank-math-list\">\n<div id=\"faq-question-1\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question\">Que signifie la bonne foi en droit tha\u00eflandais ?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer\">\n\n<p>En vertu de l'article 5 du Code civil et commercial, toute personne doit exercer ses droits et ex\u00e9cuter ses obligations de bonne foi, et l'article 6 pr\u00e9sume que tout le monde agit de bonne foi, sauf preuve du contraire. Les tribunaux l'utilisent pour prot\u00e9ger les acheteurs de biens de bonne foi, pour interpr\u00e9ter les contrats de mani\u00e8re sens\u00e9e et pour sanctionner l'exercice abusif des droits.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-2\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question\">La bonne foi prot\u00e8ge-t-elle un \u00e9tranger qui ach\u00e8te un bien immobilier \u00e0 quelqu'un qui n'a pas un titre r\u00e9gulier ?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer\">\n\n<p>Seulement en partie. Un acheteur qui a pay\u00e9 un prix juste, ignorait l'existence d'une r\u00e9clamation concurrente et a fait enregistrer le transfert conserve le bien face \u00e0 des droits ant\u00e9rieurs non enregistr\u00e9s en vertu des articles 1299 et 1300. Un acheteur qui connaissait le probl\u00e8me ou a ignor\u00e9 des signaux d'alerte \u00e9vidents ne peut pas invoquer la bonne foi, raison pour laquelle la v\u00e9rification des titres avant le paiement est importante.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"faq-question-3\" class=\"rank-math-list-item\">\n<h3 class=\"rank-math-question\">Qui doit prouver la mauvaise foi devant un tribunal tha\u00eflandais ?<\/h3>\n<div class=\"rank-math-answer\">\n\n<p>La partie qui l'all\u00e8gue. L'article 6 pr\u00e9sume la bonne foi, de sorte que la personne qui pr\u00e9tend que l'autre partie a agi malhonn\u00eatement doit produire des \u00e9l\u00e9ments de preuve, d\u00e9montrant g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement ce que l'autre partie savait ou aurait d\u00fb savoir. Les documents \u00e9crits, les courriels et les messages instantan\u00e9s constituent les preuves habituelles.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><p>Voir aussi\u00a0: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/good-morals\/\">Bonnes m\u0153urs<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/void-and-voidable\/\">Void and voidable juristic acts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/due-diligence\/\">V\u00e9rifications n\u00e9cessaires<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/glossary\/thai-civil-and-commercial-code\/\">Code civil et commercial tha\u00eflandais<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/thai-legal-system-explained\/\">Le syst\u00e8me juridique tha\u00eflandais expliqu\u00e9<\/a> ET <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thailawonline.com\/fr\/due-diligence-in-thailand\/\">Property due diligence in Thailand<\/a>.<\/p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Good faith (\u0e2a\u0e38\u0e08\u0e23\u0e34\u0e15, sutjarit, also written sucharit) is the principle in Section 5 of the Civil and Commercial Code that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":214,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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ThaiLawOnline","rank_math_description":"Good faith (sutjarit) in Thai law: the Section 5 duty to exercise rights honestly, the Section 6 presumption, and where it decides land and contract 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