Section 120: No prosecution without investigation

Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section

1. Supreme Court Judgment No. 3462/2567 (2024)

   Section 120 applies even to inquisitorial corruption proceedings through the Act on Procedure for Corruption Cases B.E. 2559; if the prosecutor files without an investigation, or the investigation was unlawful and so counts as none, the prosecution is unlawful.

   By plenary decision, the Supreme Court held that although corruption cases use an inquisitorial system in which the court may seek facts itself, they remain subject to the Criminal Procedure Code. Under Section 120, applied via Section 6 of the corruption procedure statute, filing without a prior investigation, or after an unlawful investigation that counts as none, renders the prosecution unlawful.

2. Supreme Court Judgment No. 3277/2566 (2023)

   The failure of the investigator to notify and investigate a particular charge bars only the prosecutor from filing that charge under Section 120; it does not limit the court's power at the trial stage to convict on that offence where the law otherwise permits.

   The Supreme Court explained that an investigator's failure to notify and investigate a specific offence goes to the prosecutor's power to file under Section 120, which is a stage of filing, not to the court's power to adjudicate. The Court of Appeal for Specialised Cases therefore retained power to convict on the offence.

Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.