Section 157: Malfeasance or dereliction of duty by an official
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดเป็นเจ้าพนักงาน ปฏิบัติหรือละเว้นการปฏิบัติหน้าที่โดยมิชอบ เพื่อให้เกิดความเสียหายแก่ผู้หนึ่งผู้ใด หรือปฏิบัติหรือละเว้นการปฏิบัติหน้าที่โดยทุจริต ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่หนึ่งปีถึงสิบปี หรือปรับตั้งแต่สองหมื่นบาทถึงสองแสนบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๗ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever, being an official, wrongfully performs or omits to perform a duty so as to cause injury to any person, or dishonestly performs or omits to perform a duty, shall be punished with imprisonment from one to ten years or a fine from twenty thousand to two hundred thousand baht, or both.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 157 is the general malfeasance provision and the most widely invoked offence in the Chapter. It has two alternative limbs: (1) wrongfully performing or omitting a duty in order to cause injury to any person, or (2) dishonestly performing or omitting a duty. The first limb requires intent to injure; the second requires dishonesty, with the harm inherent in the dishonest exercise of office. Because it is drafted broadly, it functions as the residual offence when the more specific corruption offences, such as Sections 147 to 156, are charged but their narrower elements are not fully made out; courts frequently convict under Section 157 as the fallback. It is not a strict-liability provision: a mere administrative error or good-faith mistake, without wrongful intent or dishonesty, does not satisfy it.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure is one to ten years or a fine or both; it is a non-compoundable public offence, and the ten-year maximum sets the limitation period at fifteen years. This is the workhorse charge against officials, often pleaded alongside the specific corruption offences so that a conviction can still follow if the narrower count fails. The decisive issue is usually mental state: was the act a wrongful or dishonest exercise of duty, or an honest error of judgment? Officials facing a Section 157 complaint should get Thai criminal law advice early, since the same facts can support or defeat both the specific and the general count.
Cited in 692 Supreme Court decisions (1962 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 2140/2568 (2025)
- Decision 621/2568 (2025)
- Decision 49/2568 (2025)
- Decision 2324/2567 (2024)
- Decision 224/2567 (2024)
- Decision 238/2567 (2024)
- Decision 2934/2566 (2023)
- Decision 2695/2566 (2023)
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 83 333
- Section 91 307
- Section 90 226
- Section 86 154
- Section 78 139
- Section 162 137
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 every administrative mistake an offence under Section 157?
No. It requires wrongful intent to cause injury or dishonesty; a good-faith error of judgment without such intent does not satisfy the section.
Why is Section 157 charged with other corruption offences?
Because it is broadly drafted, it serves as the fallback conviction when the narrower elements of a specific offence such as Section 149 are not fully proven.
What is the penalty under Section 157?
Imprisonment of one to ten years, a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 baht, or both.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 157 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 157. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-157/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 157 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-157/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-157/"><p>Whoever, being an official, wrongfully performs or omits to perform a duty so as to cause injury to any person, or dishonestly performs or omits to perform a duty, shall be punished with imprisonment from one to ten years or a fine from twenty thousand…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 157 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-157/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.