Section 207: Custody and Bail During Appeal
Statutory text (Thai original)
เมื่อมีอุทธรณ์คำพิพากษา ศาลอุทธรณ์มีอำนาจสั่งให้ศาลชั้นต้นออกหมายเรียกหรือจับจำเลย ซึ่งศาลนั้นปล่อยตัวไปแล้ว มาขังหรือปล่อยชั่วคราวระหว่างอุทธรณ์ก็ได้ หรือถ้าจำเลยถูกขังอยู่ระหว่างอุทธรณ์จะสั่งให้ศาลชั้นต้นปล่อยจำเลยหรือปล่อยชั่วคราวก็ได้
English translation
When there is an appeal against a judgment, the Court of Appeal has the power to order the court of first instance to issue a summons for, or to arrest, a defendant whom that court has released, so as to detain the defendant or release the defendant on bail during the appeal; or, if the defendant is being detained during the appeal, it may order the court of first instance to release the defendant or to release the defendant on bail.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 207 confirms that control over a defendant's liberty does not stop at the trial court once an appeal is lodged. The Court of Appeal is given supervisory power to adjust the defendant's status during the appeal, working through the court of first instance: it may summon or arrest a released defendant to detain them or place them on bail, or it may order the release, or release on bail, of a defendant currently detained. The provision ensures that the custody position can be revisited to fit the changed posture of the case on appeal, for example where the risk of flight or the strength of the conviction looks different once judgment has been given.
Why this matters in practice
This section matters most to a defendant's freedom while an appeal is pending. If you were convicted and are in custody, a bail application can be pursued during the appeal, and the Court of Appeal can direct the trial court to grant release or bail. Conversely, a defendant released at trial can be brought back into custody on appeal, so freedom after a first-instance acquittal or bail is not guaranteed to last. Bail during appeal is a distinct application with its own risk assessment, and prompt, well-supported applications matter. A consultation with a Thai lawyer can help you prepare a bail request during an appeal.
Cited in 5 Supreme Court decisions (1954 to 1988)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 1296/2531 (1988)
- Decision 2179/2531 (1988)
- Decision 207/2530 (1987)
- Decision 1100/2516 (1973)
- Decision 2081-2082/2497 (1954)
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
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
Can a defendant get bail while an appeal is pending?
Yes. Under Section 207 the Court of Appeal may order the trial court to release a detained defendant on bail during the appeal, on a fresh assessment of the case.
Can a defendant released at trial be detained again on appeal?
Yes. Section 207 lets the Court of Appeal order the trial court to summon or arrest a released defendant to be detained or placed on bail during the appeal.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Criminal Procedure Code, s. 207 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Criminal Procedure Code (Thailand), s. 207. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-207/ (accessed 11 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.วิ.อ. มาตรา 207 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-207/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-207/"><p>When there is an appeal against a judgment, the Court of Appeal has the power to order the court of first instance to issue a summons for, or to arrest, a defendant whom that court has released, so as to detain the defendant or release…</p><footer>Criminal Procedure Code, s. 207 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-207/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.