Section 390: Negligent bodily or mental injury
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดกระทำโดยประมาท และการกระทำนั้นเป็นเหตุให้ผู้อื่นรับอันตรายแก่กายหรือจิตใจ ต้องระวางโทษจำคุกไม่เกินหนึ่งเดือน หรือปรับไม่เกินหนึ่งหมื่นบาท หรือทั้งจำทั้งปรับ หมายเหตุ: [อัตราโทษ แก้ไขเพิ่มเติมโดยมาตรา ๖ แห่งพระราชบัญญัติแก้ไขเพิ่มเติมประมวลกฎหมายอาญา (ฉบับที่ ๒๒) พ.ศ. ๒๕๕๘]
English translation
Whoever, by negligence, causes another person to receive injury to body or mind shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one month, or a fine not exceeding ten thousand baht, or both.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
The elements are an act done negligently, meaning without the care a reasonable person would exercise, that causes another to suffer injury to body or mind. As a petty offence (ลหุโทษ) it sits at the lowest tier of the negligence-injury ladder: where negligence causes grievous bodily harm the offence rises to Section 300, and where it causes death to Section 291, both carrying far heavier penalties. Section 390 is the residual provision for ordinary, non-grievous negligent injury and is very commonly charged in road-traffic collisions alongside offences under the Land Traffic Act. It is not compoundable, and neither are the assault offences in Sections 391 to 394: the Penal Code contains no provision making any petty offence compoundable.
Why this matters in practice
Penalty exposure is minor and the case is usually resolved by paying compensation, which strongly influences whether the court imposes a fine only. Note, however, that no petty offence in this chapter is compoundable, so a settlement does not end the public prosecution as a matter of law. What usually ends such a case is the injured person declining to pursue it, which is a practical outcome rather than a legal bar. As a petty offence the prosecution period is short, so complaints should be filed promptly. For an overview of how these charges proceed, see our guide to criminal law in Thailand.
Cited in 179 Supreme Court decisions (1962 to 2025)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 194/2568 (2025)
- Decision 1514/2565 (2022)
- Decision 8286/2559 (2016)
- Decision 7004/2559 (2016)
- Decision 6258/2559 (2016)
- Decision 5211/2559 (2016)
- Decision 6502/2558 (2015)
- Decision 6450/2558 (2015)
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 300 111
- Section 90 97
- Section 291 75
- Section 78 64
- Section 91 64
- Section 29 53
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
Is negligent injury under Section 390 a serious crime?
It is a petty offence, the lowest tier, punishable by up to one month imprisonment or a fine of up to 10,000 baht. More serious negligent injury causing grievous harm falls under Section 300.
Can a Section 390 case be settled by paying compensation?
No petty offence in this chapter is compoundable, so a settlement does not terminate the case as a matter of law. Paying compensation still weighs heavily on the penalty and often results in a fine only, and in practice a case ends where the injured person will not pursue it.
What is the difference between Section 390 and Section 300?
Section 390 covers ordinary bodily or mental injury caused by negligence, while Section 300 covers negligence causing grievous bodily harm and carries a much heavier penalty.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 390 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 390. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-390/ (accessed 21 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 390 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-390/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-390/"><p>Whoever, by negligence, causes another person to receive injury to body or mind shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding one month, or a fine not exceeding ten thousand baht, or both.</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 390 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-390/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.