Section 161: Correcting or Dismissing a Defective Charge
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าฟ้องไม่ถูกต้องตามกฎหมาย ให้ศาลสั่งโจทก์แก้ฟ้องให้ถูกต้อง หรือยกฟ้องหรือไม่ประทับฟ้องโจทก์มีอำนาจอุทธรณ์คำสั่งเช่นนั้นของศาล
English translation
If the charge is not correct according to law, the court shall order the plaintiff to correct it, or shall dismiss the charge or refuse to accept it. The plaintiff has the right to appeal against such an order of the court.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
This section is the court's remedial power over defective charges that fail the requirements of Section 158. Rather than mandating dismissal, it lets the court order correction, dismiss, or refuse to accept the charge, and it expressly grants the plaintiff a right to appeal. Case law favours correction over outright dismissal for minor, curable defects, particularly where the court has not yet ruled on the merits, and applies the same corrective approach to defective appeal pleadings by reading Section 161 together with Section 215. It is the procedural counterpart to the drafting standard in Section 158.
Why this matters in practice
The practical takeaway is that a technical defect in a charge, such as a missing signature, usually does not end the case: the court will typically order it corrected rather than dismiss. A plaintiff whose charge is dismissed or refused should remember the express right of appeal. For defendants, moving to strike a charge on a purely formal defect often only earns the other side a chance to fix it, so the strategy is best used where the defect goes to substance.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 298/2567 (2024)
An unsigned charge is not correct under Section 158(7), but this is a minor defect that can be cured. Under Section 161 paragraph one the court must order the plaintiff to correct it, especially where the trial court has not yet ruled on the merits, rather than dismiss the case.
The plaintiff had not signed the charge, making it defective under Section 158(7). The Court held this was a minor, correctable error and that under Section 161 paragraph one the court must order the plaintiff to correct it, particularly since the merits had not yet been decided.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 1552/2566 (2023)
Where an appeal pleading is defective because it was drafted and signed by a person not authorised to draft appeals, the appellate court should use its power under Section 161 paragraph one together with Section 215 to order the defect corrected, rather than dismiss the appeal.
The appeal was drafted and signed as drafter by someone not registered as an authorised lawyer. The Court held the appellate court should have ordered the defect corrected under Section 161 paragraph one with Section 215, and disapproved the dismissal of the appeal, remitting the matter for correction within a set time.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 79 Supreme Court decisions (1941 to 2026)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 298/2567 (2024)
- Decision 1552/2566 (2023)
- Decision 2950/2564 (2021)
- Decision 1961-1962/2564 (2021)
- Decision 1465/2563 (2020)
- Decision 2064/2562 (2019)
- Decision 1393/2560 (2017)
- Decision 14767/2558 (2015)
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 158 48
- Thai Penal Code s. 83 24
- Thai Penal Code s. 91 20
- Thai Penal Code s. 78 17
- Thai Penal Code s. 90 13
- Thai Penal Code s. 29 7
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
What happens if a criminal charge is defective in Thailand?
Under Section 161 the court may order the plaintiff to correct the charge, dismiss it, or refuse to accept it. For minor curable defects, courts usually order correction rather than dismissal.
Can the plaintiff appeal a court order about a defective charge?
Yes. Section 161 expressly gives the plaintiff the right to appeal against the court's order to correct, dismiss, or refuse to accept the charge.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Criminal Procedure Code, s. 161 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Criminal Procedure Code (Thailand), s. 161. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-161/ (accessed 11 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.วิ.อ. มาตรา 161 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-161/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-161/"><p>If the charge is not correct according to law, the court shall order the plaintiff to correct it, or shall dismiss the charge or refuse to accept it. The plaintiff has the right to appeal against such an order of the court.</p><footer>Criminal Procedure Code, s. 161 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-161/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.