Section 198: Insulting a court or judge
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดดูหมิ่นศาลหรือผู้พิพากษาในการพิจารณาหรือพิพากษาคดี หรือกระทำการขัดขวางการพิจารณาหรือพิพากษาของศาล ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกตั้งแต่หนึ่งปีถึงเจ็ดปี หรือปรับตั้งแต่สองหมื่นบาทถึงหนึ่งแสนสี่หมื่นบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๕ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever insults a court or a judge in the trial or adjudication of a case, or commits an act obstructing the trial or adjudication of the court, shall be liable to imprisonment from one year to seven years, or a fine from twenty thousand baht to one hundred and forty 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
The section covers two forms of conduct: (1) insulting a court or judge in the trial or adjudication of a case; and (2) acts obstructing the trial or adjudication. As construed by the courts, insulting a judge means conduct that lowers the worth of the judge's exercise of the judicial function in the eyes of the person committing the insult, and the connection must be to the judge's judicial role. It sits in the Title on Offences against Judicial Officials and protects the administration of justice, distinct from ordinary defamation or insult (Sections 326 and 393) because the target is the judicial function itself. The one-year minimum imprisonment marks it as a serious offense.
Why this matters in practice
Exposure is real: the minimum penalty is one year's imprisonment, so a conviction is not a mere fine. The connection to the judge's judicial function is decisive, and case law has extended the offense to filing a bad-faith lawsuit against a judge or making statements attacking a judge's fairness in exercising judicial duties, as opposed to genuine, good-faith criticism through proper channels. Litigants and their representatives should be careful how they phrase complaints and pleadings about judges. Because the line between legitimate criticism and an insult is fact-sensitive, criminal law advice in Thailand is strongly advised before making public or filed statements about a court or judge.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 5069/2565 (2022)
Insulting a judge under Section 198 means conduct that lowers the worth of the judge's exercise of the adjudicative function in the eyes of the person committing the insult.
The Supreme Court explained the meaning of insulting a judge under Section 198 as conduct diminishing the value of the judge's adjudication, and addressed the scope of who is protected as a court or judge under the provision.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 4302/2563 (2020)
Bringing a bad-faith lawsuit against a judge to retaliate for an adverse outcome, rather than a genuine good-faith exercise of the right to sue, constitutes insulting the judge in adjudication under Section 198.
The court held the defendant's suit was a bad-faith, retaliatory action based on losing the underlying case, not a legitimate use of the right to sue, and therefore amounted to insulting a judge in the adjudication of a case under Section 198.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 8244/2563 (2020)
Statements criticizing judges as lacking fairness in connection with the performance of their judicial duties constitute the offense of insulting a judge in the trial or adjudication of a case under Section 198.
The court found the defendant's statements, though phrased partly as questions, in substance criticized the judges as lacking fairness in performing their judicial duties, and so constituted insulting a judge under Section 198.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 10 Supreme Court decisions (1963 to 2022)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 8244/2563 (2020)
- Decision 4302/2563 (2020)
- Decision 3951/2562 (2019)
- Decision 19706/2555 (2012)
- Decision 10611/2555 (2012)
- Decision 1456/2506 (1963)
- Decision 5069/2565 (2022)
- Decision 1699/2512 (1969)
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 90 4
- Section 136 4
- Thai CrPC s. 158 3
- Section 56 3
- Section 157 3
- Section 83 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
What counts as insulting a judge under Section 198?
The courts describe it as conduct that lowers the worth of a judge's exercise of the judicial function, connected to the trial or adjudication of a case. It must relate to the judge's judicial role, not merely a personal dispute.
Can criticizing a court decision lead to charges under Section 198?
Genuine, good-faith criticism through proper channels is different from an insult. Case law has, however, treated bad-faith suits against judges and statements attacking a judge's fairness in their duties as offenses under Section 198.
How serious is the penalty under Section 198?
It is serious: imprisonment from one to seven years, or a fine from 20,000 to 140,000 baht, or both. The one-year minimum means it is treated as a grave offense against the administration of justice.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 198 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 198. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-198/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 198 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-198/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-198/"><p>Whoever insults a court or a judge in the trial or adjudication of a case, or commits an act obstructing the trial or adjudication of the court, shall be liable to imprisonment from one year to seven years, or a fine from twenty thousand baht…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 198 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-198/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.