Legal transplantation of foreign private law in Thailand: a case study of concept of things and property

Throughout the period from Roman law to the establishment of national legal systems in European countries, the concept of things and property has remained a fundamental concept in the civil law system. During that period, the French Civil Code and the German Civil Code served as the primary templates for codifying civil codes in numerous countries, including Thailand.During the codification process of the Thai Civil and Commercial Code (‘CCC’), the drafters employed a technique of transplanting foreign private law from various countries such as French, German, and Japanese, along with provisions pertaining to the concept of things and property. This approach resulted in unforeseen repercussions and discrepancies within the existing Thai legal framework.This study examines the problems and controversies surrounding the legal transplantation of foreign private law into the Thai CCC, specifically focusing on the concept of things and property. It aims to understand why Thai scholars encounter difficulties in this process and why it continues to be a contentious matter in the present day.The study demonstrates that the inconsistencies in the Thai CCC system arise from the reception of legal principles from various countries that approach the same issue from different legal frameworks, as well as the fragmented process of enacting the code at different times. Therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive revision of the Thai CCC. This revision should thoroughly analyse the issues and interdependencies among its provisions, as well as compare them to their counterparts in foreign private laws. The objective is to rectify the unfavourable consequences resulting from the current provisions.