Section 1399
Statutory text (Thai original)
ภาระจำยอมนั้น ถ้ามิได้ใช้สิบปี ท่านว่าย่อมสิ้นไป
Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State
English translation
Servitude is extinguished by non-usage fro ten years.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified — always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 1399 is part of Book 4 (Property) of the Thai Civil and Commercial Code. This entry is awaiting firm-authored commentary; the statutory text above is verbatim from the Office of the Council of State (OCS Krisdika) Thai source, with the English translation from the FAO/UN FAOLEX repository. Always rely on the Thai original for legal proceedings.
Why this matters in practice
Lawyers: non-use must be of the servitude as a whole, not merely reduced use; partial continued use interrupts the ten-year period. A statutory subdivision servitude under Revolutionary Council Announcement No. 286 cannot be extinguished by non-use. Laypersons: if you have a registered right of way over your neighbour's land but nobody in your household uses it for ten years, you lose it permanently.
Legislative history
Part of the original Civil and Commercial Code codification; no major subsequent amendment.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 3940/2540 (1997)
Using a previously burdened path only by permission of the servient owner after the servitude is obstructed amounts to non-use sufficient to extinguish the servitude under section 1399.
The defendant had built a house and gated the disputed path about twenty years earlier; thereafter the plaintiff used the path only with the defendant's permission. Even though the plaintiff had formerly held a servitude, by subsequently using it only with permission the plaintiff effectively abandoned the servitude and it was extinguished by non-use under section 1399.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 2668/2541 (1998)
Continued use of any part of the servitude prevents extinguishment by non-use under section 1399.
The servitude agreement did not specify the exact boundary line of the right-of-way; the court held the servitude extended over all parts of the land necessary for the benefit described. Since the defendants continued to use the path, there was no non-use to trigger extinguishment under section 1399.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.