Translation:Announcement Regarding Abolition of Noble Ranks

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Announcement Regarding Abolition of Noble Ranks (1942)
Council of Regency for King Ananda Mahidol, translated from Thai by Wikisource

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Council of Regency for King Ananda Mahidol959272Announcement Regarding Abolition of Noble Ranks1942Wikisource

19 May 2485

1089
Royal Gazette

Volume 59Issue 33

Announcement
Regarding Abolition of Noble Ranks

In the name of King Ananda Mahidol
The Council of Regency
(According to the Announcements of
the President of the House of Representatives
dated 4 August 2480 Buddhist Era
and 16 December 2484 Buddhist Era)

Aditya Dibabha
General Phitchayenyothin
Pridi Banomyong

Whereas His Majesty entertains the following opinion: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand provides in section 12 that no title gives rise to any kind of privilege and persons are equal before the law. In former times, there were rules dividing these titles into dignities, ranks of nobility, and positions. Only the dignities and positions have already been changed and modified to be in line with the form of government under the constitutional system, but the noble ranks which form a class of titles remain unchanged still. Having a noble rank or not shall not be the ground for which persons are treated differently under the law. Moreover, a large number of public servants with noble ranks from superior classes to inferior classes, whether still in service or no longer in service, have resigned from the noble ranks, but some holders of noble ranks still retain the noble ranks and have not yet applied for relinquishment thereof, seemingly resulting in inconsistency and disorderliness and likely causing a mistaken belief that holders of noble ranks enjoy better privileges than the others do. For these reasons, it is appropriate to abolish the noble ranks which have been granted, so that the possible misunderstanding so described might be fixed and the modifications according to the constitutional provisions regarding titles would be effected completely;

Therefore, His Majesty is pleased to give a Great Royal Command abolishing from now on all the noble ranks accompanied by noble names, such as chaophraya, phraya, phra, luang, and khun, which have been granted to any persons who are still alive on the day of this Announcement.

But if any holder of a noble rank wishes to retain the royally granted noble rank on account of a reason personal to him, he shall give an explanation and apply for permission to His Most Gracious Majesty. Once it is found appropriate, permission will be given for him to retain the noble rank.

In addition, any holder of a noble rank who wishes to use the noble name as his given name or family name in remembrance of his feats in the public service which grounded the granting of such noble name and in order for it to serve as a sign of auspices for himself or his own family shall be able to use the noble name as such. He shall contact the Ministry of Interior for proper arrangements.

Announced on the 15th day of May 2485 Buddhist Era, being the 9th year of the present reign.

Countersignature
Field Marshal P Phibunsongkhram
Prime Minister

This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:

This work is in the public domain worldwide because it originated in Thailand and is a work under section 7(2) of Thailand's Copyright Act, 2537 BE (1994) (WIPO translation), which provides:

7. The following shall not be deemed copyright works under this Act:

news of the day and facts having the character of mere information, not being works in the literary, scientific or artistic fields;

the constitution and legislation;

regulations, bylaws, notifications, orders, explanations and official correspondence of the Ministries, Departments or any other government or local units;

judicial decisions, orders, decisions and official reports;

translations and collections of the materials referred to in items (1) to (4), made by the Ministries, Departments or any other government or local units.

For any other work that was created or commissioned by the Thai Government, it is in the public domain if at least 50 years have elapsed since its first publication or it was not published within 50 years of authorship.

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Translation:

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.

In case this is not legally possible:

I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

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