Section 160: Officer misusing an official seal
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดเป็นเจ้าพนักงาน มีหน้าที่รักษาหรือใช้ดวงตราหรือรอยตราของราชการหรือของผู้อื่น กระทำการอันมิชอบด้วยหน้าที่ โดยใช้ดวงตราหรือรอยตรานั้น หรือโดยยินยอมให้ผู้อื่นกระทำเช่นนั้น ซึ่งอาจทำให้ผู้อื่นหรือประชาชนเสียหาย ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินห้าปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งแสนบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever, being an official having the duty to keep or use an official seal or seal impression of the government or of another person, commits an act wrongful to their duty by using such seal or seal impression, or by permitting another person to do so, in a manner that may cause damage to another person or to the public, shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine not exceeding one 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 160 protects the integrity of official seals entrusted to a particular officer. Its elements are: (1) the actor is an official; (2) with a duty to keep or use an official seal or seal impression of the government or of another; (3) they use it wrongfully, or consent to another using it; and (4) the use is such as may cause damage to a person or the public. Unlike the forgery offences, the seal here is genuine, but the wrongful use of a real seal by its custodian is what the section targets. It commonly appears alongside document offences such as Sections 161 and 162 and, where dishonesty is alleged, Section 157, because a misused seal is typically the instrument that gives a false document apparent authenticity.
Why this matters in practice
Because the maximum term is five years, cases against forestry, land and registry officers who let others use their official stamps are treated seriously. The Supreme Court has held that an officer who lets another use his personal official marking seal acts wrongfully to duty and cannot later claim he acted in good faith or by mistake once damage has resulted, so a "good faith" defence rarely succeeds on its own. This is a malfeasance offence against the State and is not settleable between private parties. If you are an official or a business dealing with permits authenticated by official seals, seek legal advice before any seal is applied outside normal procedure.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 3865/2542 (1999)
A forestry officer who uses, or lets another person use, his personal official timber-marking seal to make an impression commits an act wrongful to duty; because the resulting damage is foreseeable, he cannot escape liability by claiming he acted in good faith or by mistake once harm has occurred.
The defendant, a forestry officer, either used or permitted a relative to use his personal official timber-marking seal contrary to duty. The Court reasoned that such conduct is wrongful to duty and its damaging consequences were foreseeable, so a plea of good faith or honest mistake could not be sustained once damage had occurred.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 19 Supreme Court decisions (1959 to 2026)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 455/2569 (2026)
- Decision 4190/2536 (1993)
- Decision 217/2529 (1986)
- Decision 2762/2527 (1984)
- Decision 101/2524 (1981)
- Decision 1736/2523 (1980)
- Decision 1530/2523 (1980)
- Decision 3454/2543 (2000)
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 91 13
- Section 157 13
- Section 78 9
- Section 90 8
- Section 162 8
- Section 83 7
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 Section 160 different from forging a seal?
Section 160 concerns the misuse of a genuine official seal by the officer who keeps or uses it, not the making of a fake seal. The wrongdoing is the improper use of a real seal.
Can an officer defend by saying he acted in good faith?
The Supreme Court has held that once the wrongful use causes damage, an officer cannot escape liability by claiming he acted in good faith or by mistake, so this defence alone is usually not enough.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 160 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 160. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-160/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 160 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-160/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-160/"><p>Whoever, being an official having the duty to keep or use an official seal or seal impression of the government or of another person, commits an act wrongful to their duty by using such seal or seal impression, or by permitting another person to do…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 160 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-160/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.