Section 29: Default of fine payment
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดต้องโทษปรับและไม่ชำระค่าปรับภายในสามสิบวันนับแต่วันที่ศาลพิพากษา ผู้นั้นจะต้องถูกยึดทรัพย์สินหรืออายัดสิทธิเรียกร้องในทรัพย์สินเพื่อใช้ค่าปรับหรือมิฉะนั้นจะต้องถูกกักขังแทนค่าปรับ แต่ถ้าศาลเห็นเหตุอันควรสงสัยว่าผู้นั้นจะหลีกเลี่ยงไม่ชำระค่าปรับ ศาลจะสั่งเรียกประกันหรือจะสั่งให้กักขังผู้นั้นแทนค่าปรับไปพลางก่อนก็ได้ ความในวรรคสองของมาตรา ๒๔ มิให้นำมาใช้บังคับแก่การกักขังแทนค่าปรับ
English translation
Whoever is sentenced to a fine and fails to pay it within thirty days from the date of the court's judgment shall have property seized to satisfy the fine, or otherwise shall be detained in lieu of the fine. However, if the court sees reasonable cause, it may order the person sentenced to a fine to provide security, or may order the detention of the person in lieu of the fine before the expiry of the said period, when there is reasonable ground to believe that the person will evade payment of the fine. The provisions of Section 24 shall not apply to detention in lieu of a fine.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 29 is the enforcement engine behind the fine. It gives a default period of thirty days from judgment, after which two consequences may follow: seizure of property to satisfy the fine, or detention in lieu of the fine. A protective early-action power lets the court, on reasonable grounds to believe the person will evade payment, demand security or order detention even before the thirty days elapse. The final sentence is significant: by excluding Section 24, the law makes clear that detention in lieu of a fine is not the confinement punishment and is not governed by the place-of-confinement and home-confinement rules. Section 30 then supplies the rate and time limits for that detention.
Why this matters in practice
This is the provision that turns an unpaid fine into a real risk of losing property or being detained. Paying within thirty days, or arranging security, avoids the harsher outcomes; and note that the court can act early if it believes you will evade payment. Detention in lieu of a fine is not the same as the confinement punishment, so its rate and limits come from Section 30. For financial hardship, many courts allow instalments or community service in lieu of a fine, so it is worth raising options rather than defaulting.
Cited in 3,210 Supreme Court decisions (1965 to 2026)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 7422/2568 (2025)
- Decision 6267/2568 (2025)
- Decision 5398/2568 (2025)
- Decision 3139/2568 (2025)
- Decision 1552/2568 (2025)
- Decision 1327/2568 (2025)
- Decision 1120/2568 (2025)
- Decision 1037/2568 (2025)
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 30 2,983
- Section 78 2,033
- Section 91 1,733
- Section 56 1,575
- Section 83 1,287
- Section 90 946
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 happens if I do not pay a fine on time?
Under Section 29, if you fail to pay within thirty days of the judgment, your property may be seized to satisfy the fine, or you may be detained in lieu of the fine.
Can the court act before the thirty days end?
Yes. If there is reasonable ground to believe you will evade payment, Section 29 lets the court require security or order detention in lieu of the fine even before the thirty-day period expires.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
-
Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 29 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 29. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-29/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 29 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-29/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-29/"><p>Whoever is sentenced to a fine and fails to pay it within thirty days from the date of the court's judgment shall have property seized to satisfy the fine, or otherwise shall be detained in lieu of the fine. However, if the court sees reasonable…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 29 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-29/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.