Thailand Civil Procedure Code-Section 140-148

CHAPTER II
CONTENTS AND EFFECTS OF JUDGEMENTS AND ORDERS

Section 140.91  In the making of a judgement or an order of a court, the following rules shall be complied with:

(1)  The court shall be fully composed in accordance with the provisions of the law governing jurisdiction and competence of judges.

(2)92 Subject to the provision of section 13, if a judgement or order is required to be rendered by several judges, such judgement or order shall be by a majority opinion. In a court of first instance and appeal court, if any judge has a dissenting opinion, such judge shall write the substance of his or her dissenting opinion and reasons therefor for attachment to the case file.

In an appeal court or the Supreme Court, if the President of the Appeal Court or the President of the Supreme Court, as the case may be, sees fit, a decision upon any question in any case may be made at a general assembly or a meeting of a division, or if the law requires that a decision upon any question or in any case be made at a general assembly or a meeting of a division, it shall be decided at a general assembly or a meeting of a division, as the case may be.

Subject to the provision of section 13, unless otherwise provided for by law, such general assembly or meeting of a division of the appeal court or the Supreme Court shall consist of all judges who are on duty, but shall not be less than one-half of the number of the judges of such court or of the division in which the meeting is conducted, and the President of the Appeal Court or the President of the Supreme Court, the President of the division of the appeal court or the Supreme Court, as the case may be, or a person acting for such person shall preside over the meeting.

A decision of a general assembly or a meeting of a division shall be made by a majority of votes, and in the case of an equality of votes, the presiding member of the meeting shall have an additional vote as the casting vote.

In a case in which a general assembly or a meeting of a division has decided any question, a judgement or order shall be rendered in accordance with  the  decision  of  the general assembly or meeting of a division and must indicate which question has been decided by the general assembly or  meeting of a division. The judge attending the  meeting,  even though not sitting at the trial, shall have the power to issue a judgement or order for such case and may also, only in an appeal court, provide a dissenting opinion together with reasons.

In the case where any question in any case has been decided at a meeting of a division, if the President of the Appeal Court or the President of the Supreme Court, as the case may be, sees fit, such question may again be decided at a general assembly.

(3) The entire contents of a judgement or order must be read in open court at the time prescribed by this Code in the presence of both parties or either party. In such case, the court shall note down such reading in the judgement or order or in a report and cause the parties present in the court to affix their signatures thereon.

If no party is present in the court, the court may suspend the reading of the judgement or order. In which case the court shall note down the fact in a report and such judgement or order shall be deemed to have been pronounced according to law.

When the court judging the case or assigned to read the judgement or order as ordered by the higher court has pronounced the judgement or order as provided by this section on any date, such date shall be deemed to be the date of judgement or order of such case.

Section 141. A judgement or an order of a court shall be made in writing and mention or set forth:

1. The name of the court judging the case;
2. The names of all parties and of their legal representatives or representatives, if any;
3. The particulars of the case;
4. The reasons for all decisions;
5. The decision of the court on the issues of the case and the decision to costs. Such judgement or order shall bear the signatures of the judges rendering the judgement or order. If any judge cannot affix his or her signature, the other judges rendering the judgement or order of such case or the Chief Justice, as the case may be, shall note down the reasons for such judge not affixing his or her signature and his or her concurring opinion in the judgement or order for attachment to the case file.

In the case where the court is competent to issue an oral order or judgement, the report to be made by the court with regard to such order or judgement is not required to contain the particulars of the case or the reasons for the decisions. However, if any party notifies his or her wish to appeal or has filed an appeal, the court shall have the power to make a statement of the material particulars or the reasons for the decisions for attachment to such report within a reasonable period of time.

Section 142. A judgement or court order adjudicating the case shall give a decision on every claim in the plaint. However, no judgement or order  shall be  given  for  anything beyond or other than those appearing in the plaint, except:

1. in a case in which immovable property is claimed, such claim is understood to be of the same kind as a claim for eviction of a defendant, and if the court renders a judgement in favour of the plaintiff and when it sees fit, it may issue an order of eviction of the def This order shall apply to all relatives and dependents of the defendant residing on such immovable property who cannot present any special powers to the court;
2. in a case in which the plaintiff claims the whole of any thing, but it is considered that the plaintiff should only be entitled to a portion thereof, the court, when it sees fit, may render a judgement in favour of the plaintiff for such portion;
3. in a case in which the plaintiff claims payment of a sum of money together with interest up to the date of the filing of the plaint, the court, when it sees fit, may render a judgement ordering payment of interest by the defendant up to the date of full payment in accordance with the judgement;
4. in a case in which the plaintiff claims rent or compensation for damage which is continuing, calculated up to the date of the filing of the plaint, the court, when it sees fit, may render a judgement ordering payment of such rent and compensation up to the date of full payment in accordance with the judgement;
5. in a case in which a legal provision involving public order may be raised, the court, when it sees fit, may raise it for decision and render a judgement accordingly;
6. 93 in a case in which the plaintiff claims payment of a sum of money together with interest at the rate that has not been agreed upon, the court, when it sees fit, taking into account the reasonableness and good faith in the defence or proceeding with the case, may render a judgement  ordering  payment  of interest by  the defendant  at  the rate higher  than that entitled to by the plaintiff according to law but not exceeding fifteen percent per year from the date of the filing of the plaint or any other later date.

Section 143. If there is any minor error or other minor mistakes in any judgement or order and no appeal or petition is made against such judgement or order, the court rendering such judgement or order, when it sees fit or upon the application of the party concerned, may issue a supplemental order to correct such error or mistake. However, if there is an appeal or petition against such judgement or order, the power to correct such error or mistake shall vest in the appeal court or the Supreme Court, as the case may be. A request for correction of such error or mistake shall be filed with such court, either by stating it in the appeal or the petition or by a separate motion.

A supplemental order under this section shall not reverse or amend the decision given in the original judgement or order.

Upon issuance of such order, no copy of the original judgement or order may be made unless together with a copy of the supplemental order.

Section 144. When any court has already rendered a judgement or order adjudicating the case or any issue of the case, no proceedings in relation to the case or issue so adjudicated may be conducted in such court, except the  proceedings  subject  to the  provisions  of this Code governing:

1. the correction of minor errors or other minor mistakes under section 143;
2. the new trial of cases which have been tried and adjudicated ex parte under section 209 and cases of which documents have been lost or damaged under section 53;
3. the filing, acceptance or rejection of appeals or petitions under sections 229 and 247 and the measures of provisional execution pending the filing of an appeal or petition under section 254, last paragraph;
4. the sending back of cases by the Supreme Court or an appeal court to the lower court which has tried or adjudicated such cases for a new judgement or a new trial and judgement under section 243;
5. 94  the execution of judgements or orders under section 271, provided that the application of the provisions of sections 16 and 240 governing the proceedings conducted upon commission of another court shall not be precluded.

Section 145. Subject to the provisions of this Code governing appeal, petition and new trial, any judgement or order shall be deemed to be binding upon the parties to the proceedings of the court rendering the judgement or order from the date of such judgement or order until the date on which such judgement or order has been modified, amended, reversed or subject to a stay, if any.

Notwithstanding the general statement worded by the court that the judgement shall also be applicable to third parties who are not parties to the proceedings before the court, such judgement or order shall not be binding on third parties, except as provided in section 142 (1), section 245 and section 366 and the following:

1. Judgements relating to the status or capacity of a person, or judgements ordering the dissolution of a juristic person, or bankruptcy orders may be set up by or asserted against a third party;
2. Judgements deciding on the ownership of any property in favour of either  party may be asserted against a third party, unless such third party can prove that his or her right has preference.95

Section 146. When final judgements or orders of two courts of different levels mention the same indivisible performance and such judgements or orders are in conflict to each other, the judgement or order of the higher court shall prevail.

If the same court of first instance or two courts of first instance of the same level or an appeal court has rendered such judgements or orders, the parties to the proceedings of the cases in which such judgements or orders have been issued shall be entitled to file an application with a court of the immediate higher level for an order determining which of such judgements or orders shall prevail. Such order shall be final.

Section 147. Any judgement or order which may not be appealed or petitioned or with respect to which a request for a new trial is not allowed according to law shall be deemed final from the date of its pronouncement.

Any judgement or order which may be appealed, petitioned or with respect to which a request for a new trial is allowed shall, if it is not appealed, petitioned or a request for a new trial is not made within a prescribed period of time, be deemed final from the expiration of such period of time. If it is appealed, petitioned or a request for a new trial is made and the appeal court or the Supreme Court or the court of first instance of retrial issues an order of disposal of the case from the case list as provided in section 132, such judgement or order shall be deemed final from the date of issuance of the order of disposal of the case from the case list.

Any party may file a request with the court of first instance trying the case for issuance of a certificate presenting that such judgement or order of the case has become final.

Section 148. In a case of which the judgement or order has become final, the same parties may not again bring a case against each other with respect to the issues decided based on the same grounds, except in the following cases:

1. When it is the proceedings for the execution of the judgement or court order;
2. When the judgement or order has prescribed provisional measures subject to alteration or repeal according to circumstances;
3. When the judgement or order has dismissed the plaint without precluding the plaintiff from re-filing his or her plaint in the same court or in another court, subject to the provisions of law governing prescription.

Unofficial Translation Chaninat and Leeds Ltd.  Thailand Divorce Lawyers