LEGAL PROBLEMS CONCERNING REVOLUTION, COUP D’ÉTAT AND “SOVEREIGNTY”

Abstract

  Legal problems concerning revolution, coup d’etat and “sovereignty” are the most important problems. Coup d’etat is considered a political phenomenon affecting and resulting in legal disadvantages. If a coup d’etat is successful, by principle, the coup d’etat is an infringement of the law and the coup d’etat council conducts an offence. However, in Thailand, when the coup d’etat is successful, the judiciary does not directly certify the legal status as legal. However, it is accepted that the coup d’etat council with success is in “sovereignty’ as the sovereign of the country. The coup d’etat council has the authority to issue new laws in the form of the announcements or the orders of the council. When the coup d’etat is successful, the coup d’etat council usually issues the amnesty law afterwards. 

             It can be said that the announcements and the orders of the coup d’etat council have the enforcement conditions so that members of the general public conform to them during the period of the coup d’etat having power. However, when the coup d’etat council is out of power, although these announcements and orders are certified for legal validity, the judiciary may reject the certification of the validity of such announcements and orders. The value of the Constitution or the basic principles in the Constitution i.e. the legal state, the rule of law, and the principle of democracy can be raised to nullify the enforcement of such provisions. It can be as if such announcements and orders have never existed or without an enforcement. There must be a remedy process to be in the original position. In cases of force majeure that cannot be remedied, the validity can be certified on a case-by-case basis. Remedies must be made to those injured from the revolution or coup d’etat which cannot return to the original conditions as well.