Section 168: Service of the Charge After Acceptance
Statutory text (Thai original)
เมื่อศาลประทับฟ้องแล้ว ให้ส่งสำเนาฟ้องให้แก่จำเลยรายตัวไป เว้นแต่จำเลยจะได้รับสำเนาฟ้องไว้ก่อนแล้ว
English translation
When the court has accepted the charge, a copy of the charge shall be delivered to the defendant individually, unless the defendant has already received a copy of the charge beforehand.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
This short provision, in the Title on filing criminal charges and the preliminary hearing, secures a defendant's basic right to know the accusation by requiring individual service of the charge once the court accepts it under Section 167. The exception for a defendant who already holds a copy avoids duplicate service, which commonly arises where the defendant received the charge during the preliminary-hearing stage. It underpins the trial-stage duty in Section 172 to read and explain the charge to the defendant, since a defendant must have the charge in hand to prepare a defense.
Why this matters in practice
A defendant should make sure they actually receive the copy of the charge, because it is the document that defines the accusation and the starting point for building a defense. If service is missed, the defect can affect later steps such as arraignment and the reading of the charge at trial. A defendant who has just been served and needs to understand the accusation can arrange an online consultation with a Thai lawyer.
Cited in 2 Supreme Court decisions (1947 to 1978)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 64/2521 (1978)
- Decision 410/2490 (1947)
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.
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
When does a defendant get a copy of the charge?
Under Section 168, once the court accepts the charge for trial it must deliver a copy to each defendant individually, unless the defendant already received a copy earlier.
Does every defendant get served separately?
Yes. Section 168 requires the copy to be delivered to each defendant individually, so co-defendants are each served, except any who already have a copy.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Criminal Procedure Code, s. 168 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Criminal Procedure Code (Thailand), s. 168. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-168/ (accessed 11 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.วิ.อ. มาตรา 168 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-168/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-168/"><p>When the court has accepted the charge, a copy of the charge shall be delivered to the defendant individually, unless the defendant has already received a copy of the charge beforehand.</p><footer>Criminal Procedure Code, s. 168 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-168/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.