Section 375: Obstructing a public drain or sewer
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดทำให้รางระบายน้ำ ร่องน้ำหรือท่อระบายของโสโครก อันเป็นสิ่งสาธารณะเกิดขัดข้องหรือไม่สะดวก ต้องระวางโทษปรับไม่เกินห้าพันบาท หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๖ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๒) พ.ศ. ๒๕๕๘]
English translation
Whoever causes a public drain, watercourse or sewer to become obstructed or inconvenient shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand baht.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
The elements are (1) an act by any means, (2) directed at a drain, watercourse or sewer, (3) which is a public thing, and (4) causing it to become obstructed or inconvenient to use. The provision protects public drainage infrastructure rather than any individual's property, so there need be no private complainant and no proof of damage; it is enough that the public facility is put out of proper working order. The penalty is a fine only, not exceeding 5,000 baht, so no custodial sentence is available. Conduct of this kind will often also engage the Public Health Act B.E. 2535 and local sanitation regulations, which are separate statutes with their own penalties.
Why this matters in practice
The exposure is a fine of up to 5,000 baht and nothing more, so the practical significance of Section 375 is rarely the penalty itself. It matters because building work, drain covers, waste dumping and site runoff that block a public drain can attract a criminal charge on top of municipal enforcement, and because the same facts usually engage the Public Health Act B.E. 2535 and local sanitation rules, which carry heavier consequences including orders to clear the obstruction at the offender's cost. Anyone facing a complaint should establish whether the drain in question is genuinely a public thing, because a drain lying wholly within private land falls outside this section.
Cited in 3 Supreme Court decisions (1962 to 1971)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 1502/2514 (1971)
- Decision 729/2506 (1963)
- Decision 1020-1021/2505 (1962)
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.
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 does Section 375 of the Thai Penal Code punish?
Causing a public drain, watercourse or sewer to become obstructed or inconvenient to use. It is a petty offence carrying a fine of up to 5,000 baht, with no imprisonment.
Does Section 375 apply to a drain on private land?
No. The drain, watercourse or sewer must be a public thing. A drainage channel lying wholly within private land falls outside this section, although the Public Health Act B.E. 2535 and local sanitation rules may still apply.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 375 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 375. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-375/ (accessed 17 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 375 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-375/ -
Embed on your site
<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-375/"><p>Whoever causes a public drain, watercourse or sewer to become obstructed or inconvenient shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five thousand baht.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 375 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-375/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.