A Brief Commentary on the Methods of Application of Law stipulated in Section 4 of the Civil and Commercial Code

Abstract

This academic paper has a purpose to inquire whether there exists in the Thai legal system any legal provision which specifically stipulated “methods of interpretation of law”. The analysis focuses mainly on the concrete rules for applying the law provided by Section 4 of the Civil and Commercial Code. The results suggest that Section 4 of the Civil and Commercial Code is not a provision which laid down the “methods of interpretation of law” of the Thai legal system, but rather a provision regarding the “application of law”, that is, the provisions which determines the applicable scope of law, sources of law in the Thai legal system and the sequence of application, as well as recognized expressis verbis a methodological solution to the gap of law called “analogy”. In addition, this article contains an analysis of the logical connection between both subsections of Section 4 of the Civil and Commercial Code, delineated through the concept of the fulfilment of “the gap in the law”, as well as discusses certain principles to be relied upon when a gap or potential gap in the law was found.