Constitutional Review by the Constitutional Court as the Protector of Fundamental Rights and The Guardian of the Constitution

Abstract

          This article aims to study the concept of Constitutional Review and the role of the Constitutional Court as the supreme body to adjudicate on the constitutionality of laws or bills and to suggest ways to improve Thailand’s Constitutional Review system. The Research Methodology was based on qualitative technique, and field study by interview stakeholders. This Study found that for Thailand, the constitutional review system was established and constitutional court was set up with a decisive role, responsible for ensuring the constitutionality of legislation. The court’s legal mandate includes “a priori control” and “a posteriori control”, as a mechanism of law review that has authority not only adjudicate on the procedure of law making but also review the substance of law. All citizens, not only the designated politicians and state agencies, can bring “constitutional complaints”, before the court because the constitution guarantees individuals direct access to Constitutional court in order to litigate to claim their rights and seek relief for violation of those rights. Moreover, any litigant was empowered to claim challenging the statute in the ordinary courts and constitutional court have to determines constitutionality of these statute. To conclude, Thailand’s system provides an inclusive mechanism of law review with the constitutional court acting as “The guardian of the constitution” and “the protector of Fundamental Rights”
because this integrated and open system can find legislation null and void or incompatible with the supreme law. However, a priori control and a posteriori control must be maintained for well-systematized constitutional review. The following
improvements are necessary: the structure and composition of the Constitutional Court, safeguard or immune system for the judges, integration and cooperation system among state agencies and strengthening the legislature’s role as the guardian of citizens.