ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to provide a contextual overview of the current provision of administrative justice in Thailand. I will argue that a regime of administrative justice can be regarded as an important legacy of the 1997 Constitution. Thailand now has a developed system of administrative law and Administrative Courts closely modelled on the French system. However, it will also be apparent from this analysis that although the technical foundations have been firmly set in place, the constitutional malaise in Thailand has tended to undermine the effectiveness of the institutions set up to uphold the rule of law and promote good governance. Given the current political uncertainty the constitutional background is briefly outlined in the initial section of Part I of this chapter in order to frame the discussion that follows. We then proceed to situate the Administrative Courts as part of a multi-layered legal order in Thailand.1 A comparative analysis of the Thai AdministrativeCourts is the focus of Part II of this chapter.After a detailed analysis of the jurisdiction, characteristics and powers of Thailand’sAdministrativeCourts, Part III is mainly a case study. It begins by briefly mentioning the wider role of the administrative state in a nation which has been subject to economic liberalisation, and of particular relevance to this discussion, the privatisation and statutory regulation of significant industries. This is the prelude to an assessment of the role of administrative law and the involvement of the Administrative Courts in the field of the regulation of telecommunication, broadcasting and power generation under the 1997 Constitution.
