Section 1523: Compensation on divorce for adultery
Statutory text (Thai original)
เมื่อศาลพิพากษาให้หย่ากันเพราะเหตุตามมาตรา ๑๕๑๖ (๑) คู่สมรสฝ่ายใดฝ่ายหนึ่งมีสิทธิได้รับค่าทดแทนจากคู่สมรสอีกฝ่ายหนึ่ง และจากผู้ซึ่งได้รับการอุปการะเลี้ยงดูหรือยกย่อง หรือผู้ซึ่งเป็นเหตุแห่งการหย่านั้น
คู่สมรสฝ่ายใดฝ่ายหนึ่งจะเรียกค่าทดแทนจากผู้ซึ่งล่วงเกินคู่สมรสอีกฝ่ายหนึ่งไปในทำนองชู้สาว หรือจากผู้ซึ่งแสดงตนโดยเปิดเผยเพื่อแสดงว่าตนมีความสัมพันธ์กับคู่สมรสอีกฝ่ายหนึ่งในทำนองชู้สาวก็ได้
ถ้าคู่สมรสฝ่ายใดฝ่ายหนึ่งยินยอมหรือรู้เห็นเป็นใจให้อีกฝ่ายหนึ่งกระทำการตามมาตรา ๑๕๑๖ (๑) หรือให้ผู้อื่นกระทำการตามวรรคสอง คู่สมรสฝ่ายใดฝ่ายหนึ่งนั้นจะเรียกค่าทดแทนไม่ได้
Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State
English translation
When the court gives judgment for divorce on the ground under Section 1516 (1), a spouse is entitled to compensation from the other spouse and from the person who was maintained or honoured, or who was the cause of the divorce.
A spouse may also claim compensation from a person who has taken liberties with the other spouse in an adulterous manner, or from a person who has openly held out that they have a relationship with the other spouse in an adulterous manner.
If a spouse has consented to or connived at the other spouse doing an act under Section 1516 (1), or at another person doing an act under paragraph two, that spouse cannot claim compensation.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 1523 is one of Thailand's most-litigated divorce provisions, particularly in cross-cultural marriages. The wronged spouse can sue both the unfaithful spouse and the paramour. "Compensation" includes both emotional harm and economic loss attributable to the affair. Practical points: (1) the action must be filed together with the divorce, cannot be sued separately afterwards; (2) damages have steadily increased, recent awards run from 200,000 to 1,000,000+ baht; (3) the paramour must be joined as defendant for liability to attach to them. SC decision 1303/2568 confirmed paramour liability survives the underlying spouse's bankruptcy.
Why this matters in practice
For lawyers: to sue a third party under §1523, the conduct must have been open and public — discreet affairs may not meet the threshold. Compensation is separate from the divorce and must be claimed in the same or a related action. For clients: if your spouse has been openly conducting an affair, you may be entitled to financial compensation from both your spouse and the other person involved.
Legislative history
Section 1523 was amended by the Marriage Equality Act (No. 24, B.E. 2567), in force 22 Jan 2025, to remove gendered language and apply symmetrically to any spouse whose partner has been unfaithful, regardless of gender.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 4261/2560 (2017)
Openly assuming the role of a partner constitutes the 'manifest conjugal relationship' required for third-party compensation under §1523.
A spouse has the right to claim compensation from a third party who openly and publicly presents themselves as being in a conjugal relationship with that spouse's partner; the conduct need not amount to full adultery — openly assuming the role of a partner suffices.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 320/2530 (1987) ★ Landmark
Conjugal conduct under §1523 includes adultery; the compensation right exists once divorce is granted, regardless of which spouse filed.
The Supreme Court held that 'conjugal conduct' under §1523(2) includes actual adultery; the right to claim compensation from the third party exists regardless of which spouse initiated the divorce, as long as the divorce was granted.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 47 Supreme Court decisions (1979 to 2026)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 139/2569 (2026)
- Decision 748/2568 (2025) Mistress is Liable for Damages Only If She Knew the Man Was Married — Heightened Evidentiary Standard
- Decision 5856/2567 (2024) Wife Suing Husband's Mistress for Damages Must Plead Public Display of Adulterous Relationship
- Decision 5579/2567 (2024)
- Decision 4977/2565 (2022)
- Decision 4969/2565 (2022)
- Decision 964/2562 (2019)
- Decision 2588/2561 (2018)
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
- Section 1516 20
- Section 1529 10
- Section 7 4
- Section 1526 4
- Thai CPC s. 142 3
- Section 1531 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
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1523 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Civil and Commercial Code (Thailand), s. 1523. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1523/ (accessed 8 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.พ.พ. มาตรา 1523 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1523/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1523/"><p>When the court gives judgment for divorce on the ground under Section 1516 (1), a spouse is entitled to compensation from the other spouse and from the person who was maintained or honoured, or who was the cause of the divorce. A spouse may also…</p><footer>Civil and Commercial Code, s. 1523 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-1523/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.