Like many other Southeast Asian nations, Thailand was exposed to western legal influence as a result of western colonialism in the nineteenth century. This led to the seven-century old indigenous system being displaced by a westernised legal system._x000D_ This article surveys the historical development of Thai criminal law since the nineteenth century, especially the importation of western concepts of criminal law at the turn of the century. A comparative survey of the ways in which western criminal law was received by several eastern countries during the colonial era provides a backdrop for a critique of the Thai experience. The article then proceeds to survey the subsequent developments in Thai criminal law, and concludes by advocating the indigenisation of modern Thai criminal law.