Section 1448: Minimum age to marry
Statutory text (Thai original)
การสมรสจะทำได้ต่อเมื่อบุคคลทั้งสองฝ่ายมีอายุสิบแปดปีบริบูรณ์แล้ว แต่ในกรณีมีเหตุอันสมควร ศาลอาจอนุญาตให้ทำการสมรสก่อนนั้นได้
Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State
English translation
A marriage may be made only when both parties have completed their eighteenth year of age, but where there is appropriate cause the court may permit them to marry before that age.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 1448 was amended by the Marriage Equality Act (Civil and Commercial Code Amendment Act No. 24, B.E. 2567, in force 23 January 2025), which: (a) raised the minimum age from 17 to 18, eliminating the lower bound that had been criticised as inconsistent with the Child Protection Act; and (b) replaced 'man and woman' with 'two persons', permitting marriage regardless of sex. The court-permission exception remains. Marriages contracted under the pre-2025 wording remain valid; new registrations after the in-force date must satisfy the new rule.
Why this matters in practice
For lawyers: verify both parties' Thai national ID or passport to confirm age before advising on registration; minors require a separate court petition before any District Office appointment. For clients: if either of you is under 18, you cannot simply walk into an Amphur — you need a court order first. Same-sex couples have had full marriage rights since 22 January 2025; registration procedure is identical to any other couple.
Legislative history
Originally §1448 set seventeen as the minimum age and referred to 'a man and a woman.' Amended by the Marriage Equality Act (No. 24, B.E. 2567), in force 22 Jan 2025: the minimum age was raised to eighteen, gendered terms were replaced with 'two persons,' and marriage was opened to two persons of any gender.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 1832/2527 (1984)
A registrar may refuse marriage registration only for statutory grounds under §§1448–1454 and 1458; all other refusals are unlawful.
The Registrar is obliged to accept a marriage registration application when requested; refusal is only permitted when the conditions of §§1448–1454 and 1458 are not met. Where the Registrar refuses, an interested person may petition the court without paying court fees.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 12 Supreme Court decisions (1982 to 2020)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 2887/2563 (2020)
- Decision 342/2555 (2012)
- Decision 8523/2552 (2009)
- Decision 6484/2545 (2002)
- Decision 2269/2544 (2001)
- Decision 1285/2544 (2001)
- Decision 6035/2541 (1998)
- Decision 2429/2541 (1998)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
- Thai Penal Code s. 91 7
- Thai Penal Code s. 277 7
- Thai Penal Code s. 78 6
- Thai Penal Code s. 317 4
- Thai Penal Code s. 56 3
- Thai Penal Code s. 29 3
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
Can same-sex couples legally marry in Thailand?
Yes. The Marriage Equality Act (No. 24, B.E. 2567), in force since 22 January 2025, amended the Civil and Commercial Code so that marriage is available to two persons of any gender. Same-sex couples may register at any District Office (Amphur) on exactly the same basis as opposite-sex couples.
What rights do same-sex married spouses have under Thai law?
Since 22 January 2025, legally married same-sex spouses have equal rights in property (Sin Somros marital property regime), inheritance, spousal maintenance, hospital visitation, medical consent, and adoption. They also bear the same mutual-support and cohabitation duties as any other married couple.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1448 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Civil and Commercial Code (Thailand), s. 1448. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1448/ (accessed 8 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.พ.พ. มาตรา 1448 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1448/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1448/"><p>A marriage may be made only when both parties have completed their eighteenth year of age, but where there is appropriate cause the court may permit them to marry before that age.</p><footer>Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1448 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1448/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.