Section 352: Misappropriation, and the half penalty for found property
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดครอบครองทรัพย์ซึ่งเป็นของผู้อื่น หรือซึ่งผู้อื่นเป็นเจ้าของรวมอยู่ด้วย เบียดบังเอาทรัพย์นั้นเป็นของตนหรือบุคคลที่สามโดยทุจริต ผู้นั้นกระทำความผิดฐานยักยอก ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินสามปี หรือปรับไม่เกินหกหมื่นบาทหรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ ถ้าทรัพย์นั้นได้ตกมาอยู่ในความครอบครองของผู้กระทำความผิด เพราะผู้อื่นส่งมอบให้โดยสำคัญผิดไปด้วยประการใด หรือเป็นทรัพย์สินหายซึ่งผู้กระทำความผิดเก็บได้ ผู้กระทำต้องระวางโทษแต่เพียงกึ่งหนึ่ง หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๔ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๖) พ.ศ. ๒๕๖๐]
English translation
Whoever, being in possession of property belonging to another person, or of which another person is a co-owner, dishonestly converts that property to that person or to a third person, commits the offence of misappropriation and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years, or a fine not exceeding sixty thousand baht, or both.
If the property came into the possession of the offender because another person delivered it by mistake of any kind, or if it is lost property which the offender has found, the offender shall be liable to only one half of that punishment.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 352 is the basic misappropriation offence. Its elements are: the offender is in possession of property, the property belongs to another or is jointly owned, and he dishonestly converts it to himself or a third person. The decisive feature is that the offender already lawfully holds the property, which separates misappropriation from theft under Section 334, where the offender takes property out of another's possession. Aggravated forms follow in Section 354 where the possessor is a court-appointed or testamentary administrator or a person in a business the public trusts, and the whole chapter is compoundable under Section 356. Courts sometimes reclassify a charge from theft to misappropriation, or the reverse, according to whether possession had already passed to the accused.
Why this matters in practice
Two points dominate practice. First, because misappropriation is compoundable under Section 356, the injured party must complain within three months of learning the offence and the offender, so delay can be fatal to the case. Second, the theft or misappropriation line matters for both charge and defence: if the accused was lawfully entrusted with the property, the correct charge is misappropriation, not theft, and the maximum penalty is three years. Restitution is commonly ordered, and where the property is jointly owned the injured co-owner may recover only his share. Employees, agents, and business partners are the typical defendants; take advice on dishonesty and misappropriation offences in Thailand early.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 809/2568 (2025)
Conduct originally charged as theft can be convicted as misappropriation under Section 352 paragraph one where the accused already held the property, and a first offender may receive a suspended sentence.
The trial court acquitted, but the Court of Appeal reversed and convicted the defendant of misappropriation under Section 352 paragraph one, imposing three months imprisonment and a 30,000 baht fine, reduced by one third for useful testimony, with the prison term suspended for one year as he had no prior record.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 3672/2568 (2025)
Where an employee entrusted with the employer's funds dishonestly takes them, the conduct is misappropriation under Section 352 paragraph one rather than theft, because possession had lawfully passed to the accused.
The trial court had convicted under the theft provisions, but the Court of Appeal amended the conviction to misappropriation under Section 352 paragraph one and sentenced the defendant to three years, reduced by one third to two years, with an order to return over four million baht to the injured company.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 639 Supreme Court decisions (1960 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 3672/2568 (2025)
- Decision 809/2568 (2025)
- Decision 5658/2567 (2024)
- Decision 2427/2567 (2024)
- Decision 2324/2567 (2024)
- Decision 2212/2567 (2024)
- Decision 298/2567 (2024)
- Decision 2209/2567 (2024)
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 91 225
- Section 353 184
- Section 83 178
- Section 78 158
- Section 354 103
- Section 264 71
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 is the difference between misappropriation and theft?
In misappropriation the offender already lawfully holds the property and then dishonestly keeps it, while theft under Section 334 is taking property out of someone else's possession. The dividing line is whether possession had already passed to the accused.
Is misappropriation compoundable?
Yes. Section 356 makes the misappropriation chapter compoundable, so the case can be settled and withdrawn, but the injured party must complain within three months of knowing the offence and offender.
What is the penalty for misappropriation?
Up to three years imprisonment, a fine up to sixty thousand baht, or both. Courts also commonly order the offender to return or pay for the property.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 352 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 352. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-352/ (accessed 19 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 352 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-352/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-352/"><p>Whoever, being in possession of property belonging to another person, or of which another person is a co-owner, dishonestly converts that property to that person or to a third person, commits the offence of misappropriation and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years,…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 352 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-352/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.