Section 158 — Loser pays waived fees to court
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าศาลเห็นว่าคู่ความอีกฝ่ายหนึ่งจะต้องเป็นผู้รับผิดเสียค่าฤชาธรรมเนียมทั้งหมดหรือแต่บางส่วนของคู่ความทั้งสองฝ่าย ให้ศาลพิพากษาในเรื่องค่าฤชาธรรมเนียม โดยสั่งให้คู่ความอีกฝ่ายหนึ่งนั้นชำระต่อศาลในนามของผู้ที่ได้รับยกเว้นค่าธรรมเนียมศาลซึ่งค่าธรรมเนียมศาลที่ผู้นั้นได้รับยกเว้นทั้งหมดหรือแต่บางส่วนตามที่ศาลเห็นสมควร
English translation
If the court is of the opinion that the other party is to be liable for the whole or part of the court fees and costs of both parties, the court shall render its judgment on court fees and costs by ordering that other party to pay to the court, in the name of the person who was granted exemption from court fees, the whole or part of the court fees from which that person was exempted, as the court thinks fit.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified — always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 158 handles the recovery of waived court fees when the exempted party wins and the opponent is made liable for costs. Rather than letting the waived fees fall away, the court orders the losing party to pay them to the court, in the name of the exempted party, so the State recovers the fees it had forgone. The order may be for the whole or part of the waived fees, as the court thinks fit, tracking the extent of the opponent's cost liability. Courts treat the making of this order as a duty: several Supreme Court decisions correct trial judgments that ordered the loser to reimburse costs generally but omitted the specific direction to pay the waived court fees to the court in the exempted party's name.
Why this matters in practice
If you litigated on a fee waiver and won, the fees you were excused do not just disappear: the court should order the losing party to pay them to the court in your name, so check that the judgment on costs actually contains that direction. If it is missing, it can be corrected, as the higher courts routinely do. For the paying side, remember that beating a waived opponent can still leave you owing the waived court fees to the court, not to your opponent.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 1649/2567 (2024)
Where a fee-waived plaintiff wins, the court must order the losing defendants to pay the waived court fees to the court in the plaintiff's name under Section 158; a judgment ordering general reimbursement without that direction is corrected.
The trial court had let the plaintiffs litigate with a fee waiver and ordered the defendants to reimburse the waived costs, but did not order them to pay to the court in the plaintiffs' name as required by Section 158. The Supreme Court corrected the order accordingly.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 10260/2558 (2015)
Where the plaintiff was exempted from half the court fee and wins, the court must order the losing defendants to pay that half to the court in the plaintiff's name under Section 158; failing to do so is an error to be corrected.
The plaintiff had been exempted from half the court fee and won in part. The trial court ordered the four defendants to reimburse the costs to the extent of the plaintiff's success but did not order the waived half-fee paid to the court in the plaintiff's name under Section 158, so the Supreme Court corrected the order.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 4888/2558 (2015)
A judgment ordering the losing defendant to reimburse costs but omitting the Section 158 direction to pay the plaintiff's half-waived court fee to the court in the plaintiff's name is corrected, read together with Section 167 paragraph one.
The plaintiff was exempted from half the court fee at first instance. The trial court ordered defendant 2 to reimburse costs but did not order that defendant to pay the waived half-fee to the court in the plaintiff's name, and gave no costs order on dismissing defendant 1. The Supreme Court corrected the judgment under Section 158 and Section 167 paragraph one.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Frequently asked questions
If I won my case on a fee waiver, who pays the waived court fees?
Under Section 158, where the losing party is liable for costs, the court orders that party to pay the waived court fees to the court in your name, in whole or in part, rather than cancelling them.
What if the judgment does not order the loser to pay the waived fees?
That omission can be corrected. Supreme Court decisions have amended trial judgments that ordered general reimbursement of costs but left out the Section 158 direction to pay the waived fees to the court in the exempted party's name.