Legal Issues Concerning the Determination of the Jurisdiction of the Military Courts in Thailand

Abstract

This research consists purposes were 1. to examine legal issues concerning the determination of the jurisdiction of the Thai Military Court and the restriction of the right to appeal and petition for a final judgment in military courts during abnormal periods 2. to study concepts and theories, principles of international law, foreign laws, and Thai law regarding the determination of military court jurisdiction and 3. to propose guidelines for improving and amending laws related to the determination of the jurisdiction of the Thai Military Court. This study is a qualitative research employing a documentary research method. It involves examining statutory laws, relevant legal commentaries, Supreme Court and Supreme Military Court judgments, academic articles, theses and research documents. The information gathered from these related documents is then analyzed using content analysis. The research findings revealed that 1) legal issues regarding the jurisdiction of Thai military courts indicate that Thailand still defines the term military-specific cases as a basis for determining the characteristics of cases under the jurisdiction of military courts. However, the characteristics of offenses under the jurisdiction of military courts have not been announced. Military courts have discretion to refuse to accept cases that they deem not to be under the jurisdiction of military courts, without clearly stipulating criteria for the exercise of discretion by military courts 2) Foreign militaries have adopted the principles in the definition to clearly announce the characteristics of cases under the jurisdiction of military courts. Therefore, the dismissal of cases that are not under the jurisdiction of military courts has established criteria for cases that are not declared as cases for which the military court has no jurisdiction to consider and adjudicate. And there is no prohibition on appealing the verdict of the military court during the period of war or unrest and 3) The definition of the term cases with military characteristics should be defined in the Military Court Act of 1955, Section 13, and a list of offenses under the jurisdiction of the military court should be announced at the end of the said Act. The criteria for cases not under the jurisdiction of the military court instead of giving discretion to the military court should be specified in Section 14(4). And the parties should be given the right to appeal the verdict of the military court at unusual times under the conditions and criteria stipulated in the Code of Military Criminal Procedure in Section 61, paragraph two.