Utthalum (Thai: อุทลุม) is a Thai word and legal term, meaning "immoral, unconventional, ingrate, against the custom".[1]
The word utthalum is used for calling a person who enters a case against his own parents or grandparents as "khon utthalum" (Thai: คนอุทลุม) or "utthalum person," and such case is called "khadi utthalum" (Thai: คดีอุทลุม) or "utthalum case". The ancient Thai law—the Law of Appeal under the Code of the Three Great Seals (Thai: กฎหมายตราสามดวง)—prescribed:[2]
"Section 21. A case shall be dismissed if it is instituted by an utthalum person who never appreaciates the kindness of his own father, mother, grandfather or grandmother, and accuses such person before any sort of court.
Section 25. Any person who is utthalum, that is to say, who never appreciates the kindness of his own father, mother, grandfather or grandmother, and accuses such person brfore any sort of court, shall be punished with flagellation in order to set an example, and his accusation shall never be proceeded with."
Later in the codification of the Civil and Commercial Code, the drafting committee agreed to accept various rules of virtue directly from the Code of the Three Great Seals, including the principle of utthalum.[3] The Civil and Commercial Code, Book 5: Family, Title 2: Parent and Child, Part 2: Rights and Duties of Parent and Child—which is in force still—prescribes:
"Section 1562. No person may enter a case, either civil or criminal, against his or her own ascendants, but the public prosecutor may take up the case upon application of such person or his or her close relative."
For the mentioned section 1562 results in restriction of the rights of the individuals, Thai courts tend to interpret that the term "ascendant" or "bupphakari" (Thai: บุพการี) in Thai—from Sanskrit, "purvakarī", or Pāli, "pubbakarī", meaning the one who maintains another first—does not cover adoptive parents or grandparents.