Section 28 — Payment of fine to court
English translation
Whoever is sentenced to a fine must pay to the court the amount of money specified in the judgment.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified — always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 28 states the elementary rule that a fine, one of the five punishments in Section 18, is a debt payable to the court in the amount fixed by the judgment. It is the anchor for the enforcement mechanisms that follow: Section 29 (seizure of property or detention in lieu on non-payment) and Section 30 (the rate and caps for detention in lieu). Because the fine is owed to the court as a criminal penalty, its enforcement can raise questions where the person owing it is subject to other legal regimes, such as bankruptcy, that govern how the person's assets may be reached.
Why this matters in practice
In practice, a fine must be paid to the court in the exact amount ordered, and prompt payment avoids the harsher enforcement steps in Sections 29 and 30, including seizure of property or detention in lieu. Where the person fined is a company or is insolvent, enforcement of the fine can intersect with bankruptcy rules and may need to proceed through the appropriate asset process rather than by direct collection. For fines against a business, see our overview of corporate criminal liability in Thailand.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 5252/2559 (2016)
A fine imposed by judgment is payable to the court and enforced under Sections 28 and 29; but where the defendant is under an absolute receivership order in bankruptcy, its assets are managed by the official receiver, so enforcement of the fine must proceed through the bankruptcy process.
The petitioner sought to have the first defendant's bank account garnished and the money remitted to the court to pay the fine under Sections 28 and 29. The official receiver objected that, because the defendant company was under an absolute receivership order, authority to manage its assets had passed to the receiver under the bankruptcy law, so any recovery had to be claimed from the estate rather than collected directly.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Frequently asked questions
Who is a fine paid to?
Under Section 28, a person sentenced to a fine pays the amount specified in the judgment to the court.
What if the fine is not paid?
Section 28 sets only the obligation to pay. If it is not paid, Sections 29 and 30 allow property to be seized or the person to be detained in lieu of the fine.