The Thai Constitution of 1997: Sources and Process
![handle is hein.journals/ubclr32 and id is 233 raw text is: THE THAI CONSTITUTION OF 1997:
SOURCES AND PROCESS
BORWORNSAK UWANNOt and WAYNE D. BURNS*
I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The development of the modern Thai nation-state has its origins in the
reign of King Rama IV when the Kingdom was known to the world as
Siam. Siam in the mid-nineteenth century was essentially a feudal state
headed by the monarch who administered the country through a hier-
archy topped by minor royalty and aristocrats. They, in turn, were paid
tribute by various levels of officials and at the bottom were the serfs who
tilled the fields, paid a portion of their harvests to the landlords, and
served in the Siamese army in times of war.'
This all changed in 1855 when Siam signed the Treaty of Friendship
and Commerce with Great Britain.2 By signing this Treaty with the
British and the other European powers, along with the Americans and
the Japanese, the King reluctantly acknowledged the arrival of Euro-
peans and radically altered the status quo. Siam was forced to open its
economy to the world. In so doing, the royal monopoly of external trade
was destroyed. By the time King Chulalongkorn (I 868-191 o) ascended
the throne, the effects of this economic transformation were already
affecting Siamese society.3 The young monarch began the step-by-step
process to eliminate slavery and serfdom in 1874. This liberation of
t Dean and Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University; former member of the
Constitutional Drafting Assembly (CDA) and secretary to the Drafting and Scrutiny Commit-
tee of the CDA; former member of the House Ad Hoc Committee on Constitutional Reform
(1993-94); former member of the Committee for Developing Democracy (CDD).
* Foreign expert, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University; LLM-UBC/'92.
I Interview with Dean Borwornsak Uwanno, Dean of Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
(23 September 1998) Bangkok [hereinafter Interview 23].
2 Treaty of Friendship and Commerce, Siam and United Kingdom, z8 April i855 Index of British
Treaties 111o-1968: Chronological List of Treaties 11o1-1925, vol. . (Surrey: Foreign & Common-
wealth Office, 1970), 46 B.S.P. 138, IO H.C.T. 557, HBCT (1924) 687, 14A. i24, s7(i) Martens
(III) 68 [hereinafter Bowring Treaty].
3 F. J. Horrigan, Local Government and Administration in Thailand- A Study of Institutions and
Their CulturalSetting (Ph.D. Thesis: Political Science, Indiana University-Dept. of Govern-
ment, 1959) at 17-18.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/ubclr32&div=14&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Thai Constitution of 1997: Sources and Process
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