Minor Offenses

Abstract

            In foreign legal systems such as Germany and France, the concepts of serious crimes and minor crimes were divided. Thailand received the idea of such minor crimes from Germany; when drafting the Act on fine-only offenses. According to the Act, the idea was to bring minor crimes that did not affect the peace of society out of ordinary crime, which is in line with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, B.E. 2560, Section 77, the last paragraph, which lays down the principle of stating criminal offenses only in the case of serious crimes. Understanding the concepts of minor crimes, the author thinks that it should help better understand the meaning of fine-only offenses under the fine-only offenses Act; when the said law has come into force. In this article, the evolution of minor crimes and the guidelines used to differentiate between serious and minor crimes will be discussed, using the concepts of a German and French jurist in the presentation, leading to further analysis of the aforementioned concepts of Thai lawyers. The author thinks that minor crimes may be divided into two cases, namely, in form, which is a fine-only offense as provided in the Act on Fine-Only Offenses, which is considered as part of the mandatory measures. In its content, it is an offense that is technical and not taken to convey moral condemnation.