Section 36: Return of forfeited property to owner
Statutory text (Thai original)
ในกรณีที่ศาลสั่งให้ริบทรัพย์สินตามมาตรา ๓๓ หรือ มาตรา ๓๔ ไปแล้ว หากปรากฏในภายหลังโดยคำเสนอของเจ้าของแท้จริงว่า ผู้เป็นเจ้าของแท้จริงมิได้รู้เห็นเป็นใจด้วยในการกระทำความผิด ก็ให้ศาลสั่งให้คืนทรัพย์สิน ถ้าทรัพย์สินนั้นยังคงมีอยู่ในความครอบครองของเจ้าพนักงาน แต่คำเสนอของเจ้าของแท้จริงนั้นจะต้องกระทำต่อศาลภายในหนึ่งปีนับแต่วันคำพิพากษาถึงที่สุด
English translation
In a case where the court has already ordered forfeiture of property under Section 33 or Section 34, if it later appears, on the submission of the true owner, that the true owner did not connive in the commission of the offense, the court shall order the property returned, provided the property still remains in the possession of an official.
However, the true owner's submission must be made to the court within one year from the date the judgment becomes final.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 36 is the innocent-owner remedy for discretionary forfeitures under Sections 33 and 34. A true owner who did not connive in the offense may petition for the property's return, but only while it is still in official possession and only within one year from the date the judgment became final. Case law treats this one-year period as a limitation on the substantive right to reclaim, not a mere procedural step, so a claim filed late is barred outright. The finality date, from which the year runs, is fixed by when the parties' appeal rights expire.
Why this matters in practice
If your property was forfeited because someone else used it in a crime, Section 36 is your route to recover it, but two conditions are strict: the property must still be held by officials, and you must file within one year of the judgment becoming final. Miss the deadline and the right is lost, so calculate finality carefully from when appeal rights expired. Be ready to prove you are the true owner and did not connive in the offense.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 13/2565 (2022)
Under Section 36, a true owner who did not connive in the offense may petition the court to return forfeited property within one year of the judgment becoming final, and finality is calculated from when the defendant's right to appeal expires.
The Supreme Court explained that a true owner not complicit in the offense may reclaim forfeited property under Section 36 within one year of finality, and computed the finality date from the expiry of the defendant's appeal period following the trial court's forfeiture order.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 2311/2567 (2024)
The one-year period in Section 36 for petitioning to recover forfeited property is a period for exercising a substantive right, not a procedural time limit governing the conduct of proceedings.
The Supreme Court characterized the one-year period in Section 36 as a period for exercising the right to seek return of seized property, distinct from procedural time limits, when reviewing a claim filed after the one-year deadline had run from finality.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 132 Supreme Court decisions (1961 to 2026)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 908/2568 (2025)
- Decision 2311/2567 (2024)
- Decision 1554/2565 (2022)
- Decision 13/2565 (2022)
- Decision 1336/2564 (2021)
- Decision 5264/2563 (2020)
- Decision 4499/2563 (2020)
- Decision 1291/2562 (2019)
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 33 28
- Section 83 15
- Section 34 13
- Section 30 9
- Section 91 7
- Section 35 7
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
Can I recover property forfeited because someone else committed a crime?
Yes, if you are the true owner and did not connive, Section 36 lets you petition for return within one year of the judgment becoming final.
What is the deadline to reclaim forfeited property?
One year from the date the judgment becomes final; case law treats this as a strict limit that bars late claims.
Does the property have to still be available?
Yes. Section 36 return is only possible while the property remains in the possession of an official.
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 36 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 36. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-36/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 36 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-36/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-36/"><p>In a case where the court has already ordered forfeiture of property under Section 33 or Section 34, if it later appears, on the submission of the true owner, that the true owner did not connive in the commission of the offense, the court shall…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 36 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-36/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.