Section 105: Attempted petty offence not punishable
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดพยายามกระทำความผิดลหุโทษ ผู้นั้นไม่ต้องรับโทษ
English translation
Whoever attempts to commit a petty offence shall not be punished.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 105 is the second exception in the petty-offences chapter and departs from the general rule in Sections 80 to 82, under which an attempt to commit a crime is itself punishable, usually at two-thirds of the completed penalty. Because petty offences are minor, the Code declines to punish an attempt at all: liability attaches only when the petty offence is completed. In practice this means the court must first determine whether the accused actually completed the conduct that constitutes the petty offence; if the act stopped at the attempt stage, no penalty follows, even though for a more serious offence an attempt would be punished.
Why this matters in practice
This provision can be decisive when a charge is downgraded. If an alleged assault turns out to cause no real bodily or mental harm, it may amount only to the petty offence in Section 391 rather than the more serious Section 295, and an attempt at that petty offence carries no penalty at all under Section 105. Defence counsel should therefore press the question of whether the completed petty offence was actually made out, because the difference between a completed petty offence and a mere attempt can be the difference between a light fine and no liability. This is a point a court may raise on its own as one of public order, even if the defendant did not.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 3486/2558 (2015)
An attempt to commit a petty offence is not punishable, so a conviction for attempted commission of what is only a petty offence cannot stand.
Where the conduct against the injured persons may not have caused actual bodily or mental harm, it amounted only to the petty offence in Section 391 combined with Sections 80 and 83, not the more serious Section 295. Because that conduct was a mere attempt at a petty offence, the defendants were not liable under Section 105, and the Supreme Court, treating the point as one of public order, dismissed the charge even though it had not been raised in the appeal.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 4 Supreme Court decisions (1986 to 2015)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 3486/2558 (2015)
- Decision 7627/2541 (1998)
- Decision 3017/2533 (1990)
- Decision 2487/2529 (1986)
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 295 3
- Section 80 3
- Section 391 3
- Section 288 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
Is an attempt to commit a petty offence punishable in Thailand?
No. Under Section 105 an attempt to commit a petty offence is not punishable, unlike attempts at more serious offences, which are punished under Sections 80 to 82.
Why does downgrading an assault charge matter here?
If an assault causes no real harm it may be only the petty offence in Section 391, and an attempt at that petty offence carries no penalty under Section 105, so the completed-versus-attempt distinction can decide the case.
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 105 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 105. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-105/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 105 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-105/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-105/"><p>Whoever attempts to commit a petty offence shall not be punished.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 105 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-105/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.