Section 220: Dika Bar on Double Acquittals
Statutory text (Thai original)
ห้ามมิให้คู่ความฎีกาในคดีที่ศาลชั้นต้นและศาลอุทธรณ์พิพากษายกฟ้องโจทก์
English translation
The parties are prohibited from filing a Dika in a case in which the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal have both dismissed the plaintiff's charge.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
This provision gives strong finality to a consistent acquittal. Where two courts have agreed to dismiss the charge, the code closes the Supreme Court door entirely, and the bar covers both fact and law questions, making it broader than Sections 218 and 219, which bar only fact questions. Like the other bars in this chapter, it can be lifted only through the certification route in Section 221. A frequent point of application is that an effective dismissal, such as an appeal ruling that reaches the same acquittal result on part of a charge, counts as a double dismissal even if the wording differs. The Supreme Court may still, on its own, correct a public-order legal misclassification without increasing the penalty.
Why this matters in practice
If you are a private prosecutor or an injured person who lost twice on the same charge, understand that Section 220 blocks a Dika on any ground, not just the facts, so the practical route to the Supreme Court is a Section 221 certification, which is rarely granted. Watch for effective dismissals: an appeal ruling that reaches the same acquittal result triggers the bar even without the word dismiss. Because a double acquittal is usually the end of the road, weigh carefully before committing further costs; our page on what to know before you go to court in Thailand sets expectations.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 3817/2568 (2025)
Even where Section 220 bars the plaintiff's Dika against a defendant, the correct legal characterization of the offense is a public-order question the Supreme Court may raise on its own to apply the right provision, provided it does not increase the penalty.
In a trespass case, the plaintiff's Dika against one defendant was barred under Section 220. The Supreme Court nonetheless corrected the legal characterization of the offense as a public-order matter under Section 195 paragraph two and Section 212 via Section 225, without increasing the penalty.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 7256/2567 (2024)
Where both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal reach a result equivalent to dismissing part of the charge, a Dika on that part is barred under Section 220 on both fact and law, unless permitted under Section 221.
The trial court dismissed charge 2.2 and the Court of Appeal held the evidence still insufficient, which was equivalent to dismissal. The plaintiff's Dika on that charge, filed without any certification under Section 221, was barred under Section 220 and the Supreme Court declined to consider it.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 456 Supreme Court decisions (1948 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 409/2564 (2021)
- Decision 8488/2561 (2018)
- Decision 8261/2561 (2018)
- Decision 1939/2561 (2018)
- Decision 2909/2559 (2016)
- Decision 12148/2558 (2015)
- Decision 9060/2558 (2015)
- Decision 3309/2558 (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
- Thai Penal Code s. 83 117
- Thai Penal Code s. 91 99
- Thai Penal Code s. 78 59
- Section 218 45
- Section 221 42
- Thai Penal Code s. 288 39
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 I appeal to the Supreme Court after losing in both lower courts?
Not by an ordinary Dika. Under Section 220, when both the trial court and the Court of Appeal dismiss the charge, no party may file a Dika on any ground, whether fact or law.
Does the Section 220 bar cover questions of law too?
Yes. Unlike the fact-only bars in Sections 218 and 219, the double-dismissal bar in Section 220 covers both fact and law questions, subject only to certification under Section 221.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Criminal Procedure Code, s. 220 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Criminal Procedure Code (Thailand), s. 220. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-220/ (accessed 11 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.วิ.อ. มาตรา 220 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-220/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-220/"><p>The parties are prohibited from filing a Dika in a case in which the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal have both dismissed the plaintiff's charge.</p><footer>Criminal Procedure Code, s. 220 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-220/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.