Page 14 - 2021 Annual Statistical Report (B.E 2564)

OVERVIEW

judiciary statistics, Thailand B.E. 2564 (2021)

The Court of Justice of Thailand is classified into three levels consisting of
court of first instance, appellate courts, and the Supreme Court (referred to as the
Dika Court). Cases under a jurisdiction of the Court of Justice are categorized as

follows: civil case, consumer protection case, criminal case, bankruptcy case, tax
case, intellectual property and international trade case, labor case, environmental
case, election case, juvenile and family case, tourism case, and corruption and
misconduct case. The statistical data in this annual report was collected from 274
courts : 262 courts of first instance, 11 appellate courts and the Supreme Court
(the data as at December 31, 2021).

Thailand has changed the appeal system to the Supreme Court for civil cases
from the rights-based system to the permission-based system in 2015. Thai law
traditionally has allowed parties to appeal any court of first instance decision to
the appellate courts and subsequently the latter’s decision to the Supreme Court
(“Sarn Dika” in Thai). Then the Supreme Court’s judgment is final.

According to the Act (Act No. 27) amending the Civil Procedure Code, the
Supreme Court now has the power to grant permission to file a dika appeal if it
deems the question to be a significant matter worthy of a decision. If the Supreme
Court does not permit the dika appeal, a judgment or an order rendered by the
Court of Appeal is final. As a result, the adjudication of the Court of Justice will
genuinely be effective and fair to all related people without delay.

Although, cases filing to the court nationwide in 2021 were over 1.5 million
cases and 76% of them were disposed of (table 1). According to COVID-19 virus
outbreak, the number of case Filed decreased 12% from 1.7 million to 1.5 million

and the number of disposed cases also decreased 22% from 1.5 million to 1.1
million. Thus, the total cases during trial at the end of the year increased by 53%.

To prevent and stop the pandemic situation, the adjournment of hearings
has been announced in the courts of first instance. As a result, the number of new
cases filled with courts and cases submitted for leave to appeal were decreased.

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