Abstract:
This thesis aims to study the problem of legitimacy, proportionality, and interpretation of provisions relating to the disqualification of minister in case of being sentenced by a judgment to imprisonment under section 160 (7) and section 160 (6) in conjunction with section 98 (7), (9) and (10) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (B.E. 2560) to achieve a more appropriate and clearer scope of application of the provisions.
This thesis uses Documentary Research Method to investigate the decision of the Constitutional Court, legal opinions of the Office of the Council of State, and the Foreign Constitutions and In-depth Interview with an expert in the provisions.
The study found that the intent of the provisions aims to terminate the ministership upon being sentenced either by foreign judgements or by Thai laws; notwithstanding the suspension of sentence and not being sentenced by a final judgment because the minister who has important political roles should not contain any stigma. However, in the case of having been sentenced by a judgment to imprisonment, the sentence must also be a final judgment. Therefore, the researcher proposes that conditions for Recognition of foreign judgments as fact should be written in the provisions of the Constitution.
