Section 85: Public advertisement to commit an offence
Statutory text (Thai original)
ผู้ใดโฆษณาหรือประกาศแก่บุคคลทั่วไปให้กระทำความผิด และความผิดนั้นมีกำหนดโทษไม่ต่ำกว่าหกเดือน ผู้นั้นต้องระวางโทษกึ่งหนึ่งของโทษที่กำหนดไว้สำหรับความผิดนั้น ถ้าได้มีการกระทำความผิดเพราะเหตุที่ได้มีการโฆษณาหรือประกาศตามความในวรรคแรก ผู้โฆษณาหรือประกาศต้องรับโทษเสมือนเป็นตัวการ
English translation
Whoever advertises or announces to the general public to commit an offence, where that offence carries a punishment of imprisonment of not less than six months, shall be liable to one half of the punishment prescribed for that offence.
If the offence is committed by reason of the advertisement or announcement, the person who advertises or announces shall be punished as a principal.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 85, in Book 1 within the Title on Principals and Supporters, is the public-incitement counterpart to the private instigation in section 84. Where section 84 targets one person, section 85 targets an appeal to the general public to commit an offence. Two limits define it: the offence advertised must carry imprisonment of at least six months, and if no one acts on the advertisement the advertiser is liable to only one half of the penalty. If someone does commit the offence because of the advertisement, the advertiser is punished as a principal, the same escalation seen with the instigator. Section 85 cannot stand alone: it always attaches to a specific underlying offence and is charged together with that offence's provision, so the penalty is measured against the crime advertised. It is read with section 87 where the offence committed exceeds the scope advertised.
Why this matters in practice
This section reaches broadcast-style incitement, a public call to commit a serious offence, and its reach has obvious relevance to posts and messages aimed at a wide audience. Two thresholds shape exposure: the advertised offence must carry at least six months' imprisonment, and the penalty is halved unless someone actually acts on the call, in which case the advertiser faces the full principal-level penalty. Because the charge is always tied to a named underlying offence, the defence should test both the six-month threshold and the causal link between the advertisement and any offence actually committed.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 1234/2523 (1980)
Section 85 does not stand alone; a charge of advertising to the public to commit an offence must be read together with the provision for the underlying offence.
The plaintiff alleged that the defendant advertised or announced to others to attack the plaintiff's life under section 85, with section 288 cited in the prayer. The court reasoned that section 85 must be applied in conjunction with the underlying offence in section 288, so the prosecution was in substance one for that offence.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 10 Supreme Court decisions (1959 to 2016)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 3611/2528 (1985)
- Decision 1234/2523 (1980)
- Decision 963/2511 (1968)
- Decision 394/2502 (1959)
- Decision 971/2508 (1965)
- Decision 8823/2559 (2016)
- Decision 2038-2041/2527 (1984)
- Decision 595/2511 (1968)
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 83 7
- Section 84 5
- Section 91 3
- Section 90 3
- Section 78 3
- Section 86 3
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 publicly calling for a crime an offence in Thailand?
Yes. Under section 85, advertising or announcing to the general public to commit an offence that carries imprisonment of at least six months makes the advertiser liable to one half of that offence's penalty.
What if someone actually commits the crime after the advertisement?
Under section 85, if the offence is committed by reason of the advertisement or announcement, the person who advertised or announced is punished as a principal, not merely at one half.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Penal Code, s. 85 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Penal Code (Thailand), s. 85. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-85/ (accessed 20 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.อ. มาตรา 85 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-85/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-85/"><p>Whoever advertises or announces to the general public to commit an offence, where that offence carries a punishment of imprisonment of not less than six months, shall be liable to one half of the punishment prescribed for that offence. If the offence is committed by…</p><footer>Penal Code, s. 85 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-penal-code/section-85/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.