Summary
Law of Tort
Note
Law of Tort is in the Civil Law and Criminal Law
- this is law regarding wrongful acts committed by a person and its consequences which result in an obligation has to compensate.
- A wrongful act is a juristic cause: different to a juristic act which is an act that creates, modifies, transfers rights between 2 parties. However, they result in juristic relations.
Type of Compensation
- Restitution of the property: return the property to the owner.
- Restitution of the value of the property: pay the value of the property to the owner.
- Damages to be granted for any injury caused: pay the money to the injured person.
Thai Tort and Criminal Law
Criminal offences
- Criminal offences are mostly torts.
- Including the offences as in the Thai Computer-related Crime Act
Comparison
| Tort Law | Criminal Law | |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | Focus on compensation of the injured party | Focus on the punishment of liable person |
| Application | the case shall be dicided according to the local custom, analogy to the provision most nearly applicable, the general principle of law. | Strictly follow the law which come within the letter |
| Termination of Liability | Not terminate with death of the offender. His heirs is still liable. | Terminate with death of the offender |
| Liability of the co-offenders | Persons involved in a crime are jointly bound to make a compensation in equal shares. | Persons involved in a crime are liable to an offence with different degree of punishment. |
Committing an act unlawfully
This includes:
- The law states clearly that the act committed is an offence, e.g., theft.
- Has no right to do or no such law supports the doing of an act, e.g., trespassing.
- Not committing an act, e.g., negligence, carelessness, or not taking care of the duty.
- Exercise a right unlawfully which cause an injury to another person, e.g., defamation.
Electronic Contract
- In the electronic contracting, the seller or provider usually states disclaimer clauses to limit their liability to the user.
- The disclaimer clauses are not enforceable if it is contrary to the law or public order.
- tort law only applicable for the user to claim for the damage that was excluded from liability.
Wilful Torts
- Therac-25
- Bugs in the programming procedure for medical diagnosis which cause false diagnosis.
- Online defamation
- Cyberstalking, trolling, harassment
Negligent Torts
- Give false information online by mistake
- Self-driving car error from a lack of training data leading to an accident.
Act related to the tort
Section 4 (Thai Consumer Protection Act): Consumer Protection
- A consumer has the rights to be afforded the following protection: The right to…
- Information correct and adequate description of quality as to the goods or services
- enjoy freedom in the selection of goods or services
- be afforded safety in the use of goods or services
- fairness in concluding contracts
- have injury considered and compensated for; provided that all this shall be as provided by the law on particular matters or by this Act.
Defamation
Section 326:
- Whoever falsely accuses the other in a manner to impair the reputation or to expose to be hated or scorned, is said to commit defamation
- The offender shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or fine not exceeding 20,000 Baht, or both.
Section 328:
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- If the offence of defamation is committed by means of publication.
- The offender shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding 2 years or fine not exceeding 200,000 Baht, or both.
Section 14: Putting Certain Types of Information into a Computer System
Paragraph 1
A person committing any of the following acts can face up to five years in prison, a fine of up to 100,000 Baht, or both:
- Dishonestly or deceptively entering distorted or false data into a computer system in a way that may harm the public, excluding defamation.
- Inputting false data likely to harm national security, public safety, Thailand’s economy, critical infrastructure, or cause public panic.
- Entering data related to national security or terrorism.
- Uploading obscene data that the public can access.
- Sharing or forwarding data from (1), (2), (3), or (4) above, knowing its nature.
Paragraph 2
In case the offence under Paragraph 1 is not committed against the general public but rather against a certain person, the offender, the disseminator or the forwarder of such computer data shall be liable to an imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, a fine not exceeding 60,000 Baht or both; and such offence shall be deemed a compoundable offence.
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