Section 171: Disobeying a court order to testify
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดขัดขืนคำสั่งของศาลให้สาบาน ปฏิญาณ ให้ถ้อยคำหรือเบิกความ ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินหกเดือน หรือปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งหมื่นบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever disobeys an order of a court to take an oath, to make an affirmation, to give a statement or to testify shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding ten 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 171 completes the group of offences protecting the court's authority over witnesses. Its elements are: (1) an order of a court; (2) requiring a person to take an oath, make an affirmation, give a statement, or testify; and (3) disobedience of it. It differs from Section 170, which concerns disobeying a summons or order to appear or to produce property or documents, by targeting the refusal to actually swear or give evidence once before the court, for example a witness who appears but refuses to be sworn or to answer. Like Section 170, it is an offence against the court as a judicial official within the Title on Offences against Judicial Officials, so its protected interest is the integrity of the trial rather than any private party's claim.
Why this matters in practice
The exposure is up to six months, and the section is enforced by the court itself against a witness who refuses to be sworn or to give evidence after being ordered to do so. In practice, a witness with a genuine legal reason not to answer, such as a recognised privilege or a risk of self-incrimination, should raise that objection with the court rather than simply refuse, because an outright refusal to comply with a lawful order can amount to the offence. Because the group of offences from Sections 167 to 171 all protect the justice process, the safest approach for any witness is to attend, be sworn, and let the court rule on any objection. If you are summoned to testify and expect a conflict, consult a Thai lawyer in advance.
Cited in 1 Supreme Court decisions (1959 to 1959)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 124/2502 (1959)
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.
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 171 different from Section 170?
Section 170 concerns disobeying a court summons or order to appear or to deliver property or documents. Section 171 concerns refusing to take an oath, make an affirmation, give a statement or testify once before the court.
Can a witness refuse to answer without breaching Section 171?
A witness with a genuine legal ground, such as a recognised privilege or risk of self-incrimination, should raise the objection with the court. An outright refusal to comply with a lawful order to testify can amount to the offence.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 171 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 171. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-171/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 171 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-171/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-171/"><p>Whoever disobeys an order of a court to take an oath, to make an affirmation, to give a statement or to testify shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding ten thousand baht, or both.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 171 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-171/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.