Section 7: Juristic person as accused or defendant
Statutory text (Thai original)
ในการสอบสวน ไต่สวนมูลฟ้องหรือพิจารณาคดีที่นิติบุคคลเป็นผู้ต้องหาหรือจำเลย ให้ออกหมายเรียกผู้จัดการหรือผู้แทนอื่น ๆ ของนิติบุคคลนั้น ให้ไปยังพนักงานสอบสวนหรือศาล แล้วแต่กรณีถ้าผู้จัดการหรือผู้แทนของนิติบุคคลนั้นไม่ปฏิบัติตามหมายเรียก จะออกหมายจับผู้นั้นมาก็ได้ แต่ห้ามมิให้ใช้บทบัญญัติว่าด้วยปล่อยชั่วคราว ขังหรือจำคุกแก่ผู้จัดการหรือผู้แทนนิติบุคคล ในคดีที่นิติบุคคลนั้นเป็นผู้ต้องหาหรือจำเลย
English translation
In an inquiry, preliminary examination or trial of a case in which a juristic person is the alleged offender or defendant, a summons shall be issued to the manager or other representative of that juristic person to appear before the inquiry official or the Court, as the case may be. If the manager or representative of the juristic person fails to comply with the summons, a warrant may be issued to arrest that person; but the provisions on provisional release, detention or imprisonment shall not be applied to the manager or representative of the juristic person in a case where the juristic person is the alleged offender or defendant.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 7 solves a practical problem: a juristic person cannot be physically arrested or detained, so the Code channels the proceedings through its manager or representative, who is summoned and, if defiant, may be arrested to secure appearance. Crucially, the Supreme Court reads Section 7 as a procedural device only: it does not make the manager or director personally guilty of the company's offense, and personal liability still has to be proved by the individual's own intent and participation. The rules on bail, remand and imprisonment do not reach the representative on account of the company's case.
Why this matters in practice
If your company is charged, the person named to appear is its manager or authorized representative, and ignoring the summons risks an arrest warrant to compel attendance. But being summoned for the company does not, by itself, make you personally a defendant or expose you to bail conditions or detention for the company's charge. Whether you also face personal liability is a separate question that turns on your own conduct.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 793/2565 (2022)
Under Section 7 paragraph one, since a juristic person suspect cannot be arrested, the inquiry official has power to summon its manager or other representative to be questioned, and this mechanism governs how the entity is brought into the process.
Addressing whether the prosecution had authority to proceed, the Court quoted Section 7 paragraph one and explained that where a juristic person is the suspect it cannot be arrested, so at the inquiry stage the inquiry official may summon one of the two classes of persons, the manager or another representative, to be questioned on its behalf.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 2813/2562 (2019)
Section 7 does not make an authorized director a joint offender merely because the company committed the offense; the prosecution must plead and prove the director's own intent and participation.
The prosecution argued that because the company (defendant 1) committed the offense, its authorized director (defendant 2) had jointly committed it under Section 7. The Court rejected this, holding that the appeal failed to show any facts establishing that the director intended and joined in the offense, so a mere reliance on Section 7 was insufficient.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 16 Supreme Court decisions (1947 to 2022)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 2813/2562 (2019)
- Decision 12852/2558 (2015)
- Decision 4813/2554 (2011)
- Decision 2319/2544 (2001)
- Decision 721/2544 (2001)
- Decision 4205/2541 (1998)
- Decision 3117/2533 (1990)
- Decision 525/2525 (1982)
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. 91 8
- Thai Penal Code s. 83 5
- Section 195 4
- Thai Penal Code s. 29 3
- Thai Penal Code s. 78 3
- Section 158 3
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
How is a company summoned in a Thai criminal case?
Under Section 7, the inquiry official or court issues a summons to the company's manager or representative to appear. If they ignore it, an arrest warrant may be issued to compel attendance.
Can a company director be detained for the company's offense?
No. Section 7 says the rules on provisional release, remand and imprisonment do not apply to the manager or representative on account of the company's case.
Does being summoned for the company make the director personally guilty?
No. The Supreme Court treats Section 7 as procedural only. Personal liability must be proved separately from the director's own intent and participation.
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Criminal Procedure Code, s. 7 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Criminal Procedure Code (Thailand), s. 7. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-7/ (accessed 11 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.วิ.อ. มาตรา 7 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-7/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-7/"><p>In an inquiry, preliminary examination or trial of a case in which a juristic person is the alleged offender or defendant, a summons shall be issued to the manager or other representative of that juristic person to appear before the inquiry official or the Court,…</p><footer>Criminal Procedure Code, s. 7 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-criminal-procedure-code/section-7/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.