The previous article introduced the outline of contents in a law document. The core of any law is the main provisions. In this section, we’ll look at the structure and organization of provisions. It’s important to understand this system and how it creates a context for the legal requirements.
Laws are collections of formalized rules, called provisions (規定), that aim to maintain social order, fairness, safety, hygiene, etc., by restricting rights, guiding behavior and even providing dispute resolution frameworks.
A provision as a single rule or requirement. It is the smallest, standalone unit of a law.
While representing a single rule, sometimes rules can have numerous conditions, exceptions, etc. Thus, a system for organizing these legal concepts withing provisions is necessary. You’re probably already familiar with some of these terms: chapters, sections, parts, articles, etc.
NOTE: While Japanese legal documents use many of these same organizational groups (e.g. parts, chapters, articles, etc.), they use them in different order and application than how they are used, for example, in US laws.
Provisions are organized into an outline format. This serves both to provide an “addressing system” as well as organization complex conditions, allowances and exceptions.
In Japanese legal documents, this system is known as 条・項・号・号の細分 (lit. “articles, paragraphs, items and subdivisions of items”).
The article (条) is the unit that represents a single provision. Therefore, as the fundamental unit provisions in legal documents, it can be thought of as the most important unit.
Below the article level are paragraphs (項), and below the paragraph level is the unit of items (号).
There are sublevels below “items,” but individually they do not have names like the levels above. Collectively, they are referred to as subdivisions of items (号の(細分 ).
The figure below shows an example of this organizational structure in a passage of a law.
Because articles are synonymous with individual provision (rule or requirement), it’s helpful to think of them as containers for paragraphs, rather than directly containing text, as is the case with paragraphs and items.
Articles: Continuously Numbered
Articles numbers start at 1 at the beginning of a law and increase sequentially through the entirety of the main provision section. They do not restart numbering with each new chapter or section, etc.
They do, however, restart at 1 with the first article of the supplemental provisions section and increase sequentially through the entirety of that section.
Paragraphs, items and subdivisions of items are hierarchical units of text, unlike articles, which can be thought of as containers holding paragraphs. Paragraphs are numbered starting at one with each article, but there is an oddity discussed below.
Paragraphs: Missing Number of First Paragraph
Because each article is a container for paragraphs, it has at least one paragraph, i.e., the first paragraph. Because it is understood to be the first paragraph, the paragraph number is always omitted, giving way to the article number.
Paragraph numbers, starting with 2, are always shown from the second paragraph onward.
The case of numbering paragraphs from the second paragraph onward is unique to paragraphs. This is because of the nature of articles being containers for paragraphs. They do not directly contain text like paragraphs, items or subdivisions of items.
Levels below paragraphs are numbered starting at one with each new parent, e.g., items restart numbering at one with each new paragraph.
While there are several nested levels below items, and they do not have a formal name, there is a convention for their outline numbering, which is discussed subsequently.
In formally printed Japanese laws and orders, only kanji numbers (漢数字) are used.
However, there is a widely accepted convention for less formal situations, e.g.: textbooks, periodical articles, research papers, study guides, etc.
The informal convention in Japanese is to use Arabic numbers for articles and paragraph numbers. Note that items always use kanji numbers, by convention. The first level subdivision of items follows the イロハ system of numbering. Second level again uses Arabic numerals in parenthesis, and finally the third level uses lower-case roman numerals in parenthesis.
| Level | Element | Counter | Style | Translated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Article | 条 | 第１条 | Art. 1 |
| 2 | Paragraph | 項 | １項 | Para. (1) |
| 3 | Item | 号 | 一号 | Item (i) |
| 4 | Item Subdivisions | None | イ | (a) |
| 5 | (1) | 1. | ||
| 6 | (i) | i. |
Although not used as widely, the Standard Legal Terms Dictionary published by the Japanese Law Translation Council, which is associated with the Ministry of Justice has the above recommended “translation” of these numberings into a Westernized system. The reader should take a few moments to review the subtle differences.
The Japanese language has a cardinal number character (第). Also, there are counter characters that indicate the thing being counted. English doesn’t formally have such a device, but we can accomplish similar meaning by adding the noun being counted.
There are counter characters for articles, paragraphs and items, but none for the subdivisions of items. In the most formal setting, each number part would have the cardinal, number and counter characters, e.g.: 第一条第三項第二号.
In less formal versions, the cardinal characters after the first are often dropped. Counter characters are only omitted if it’s absolutely unmistakable from the context.
It is very common that sometime after a law is passed, it needs to be revised to meet new conditions or considerations. In many cases, new provisions must be added in inconvenient places, e.g., between two existing provisions.
The numbering system is part of the law and can only be modified by the rules that govern making and revising laws. This makes updating articles, paragraphs or item numbers very cumbersome, especially when considering that other separate laws and orders may references to affected numbered sections. This would require the Diet to revise the referencing laws as well.
In order to minimize the administrative burden, branch numbers (枝番号) are introduced. This system allows additions to be inserted between two existing passages, without needing to renumber all subsequent passages.
When a new passage is inserted between two existing passages, it receives a branch number. Branch numbers start at 2 and increase sequentially. In formal documents, the branch number written in kanji numbers after a の, which is suffixed on the previous passage number. In informal documents, the branch number is shown as an Arabic number with a preceding dash. See the example below.
| Formal Branch Numbering | Information Variation | |
|---|---|---|
| 第二十三条の二 | = | 第２３－２条 |
Branch Number Example
As an example, let’s assume the Diet will insert a new article between existing Articles 35 and 36. This new article will be numbered Article 35-2. There is no Article 35-1, just the original Article 35.
If the Diet was to insert three new articles between existing Articles 48 and 49, the new articles will be numbered: Article 48-2, 48-3 and 48-4.
This system preserves the existing numbering of subsequent articles.
NOTES:
WARNING
Branch-numbered passages are distinct from the original passage. In other words, Articles 24 and 24-1 are separate rules.
When a passage is inserted and receives a branch number, in a sense it does indicate that the passage is related to adjacent provisions by an overarching concept or category. Otherwise, if it was totally unrelated, the new provision could have been located elsewhere in the law.
In some cases, the Diet or other law-making entity may choose to renumber the provisions. This typically happens when there is a major overhaul to a law and it may make sense to clean up the numbering system. This has happened on occasion and does require that referencing laws also have to be amended.
Before the start of each article there is a heading (見出し), which is a title that summarizes the scope or purpose of the article. The heading is always provided in parenthesis. Also, the heading is part of the law and therefore has coercive force.
Generally, there is a heading before each article, but there are cases where articles don’t have a heading immediately before it. There are two cases. The first, easiest is that the seemingly heading-less article actually shares a common headings (共通見出し) with one or more other articles. In this case the article without a heading actually falls under the most recent, previous heading.
Important Clue
Do not underestimate the value of headings. There are many cases where the provision statement seems ambiguous. However, the heading creates a scope or context, which usually dispels ambiguity.
In cases where an article does not have a heading and does not share a previous common heading, it’s usually clear from the context. In other words, the provision doesn’t require heading to create a scope or context.
In general, if there’s no heading, one can scan the previous text to find the last heading to see if it makes sense as a common heading. If not, the provision is likely a heading-less article.
The structure of the text within paragraphs, items, etc., follows an important convention. Each of these units of text is comprised of sentences (文章), which are complete, independent statements. Each sentence ends with the Japanese period 「。」, also called a kuten (句点 ).
These statements combine to form the legal requirement that is being expressed within the paragraph or item, etc. If there is more than one sentence, the first and last sentence are referred to as 前段 and 後段. With three or more clauses, the middle clauses are referred to as 中段, etc.
NOTE: The translation of 後段 here is a little context dependent. It really means “latter sentence” so it’s either translated to “last” or “second” depending on the context. The difference is not overly important.
What is important, however, is that requirements always precede exceptions (provisos). While provisos can be listed inside a sentence with requirements, it’s more common for them to be in the last sentence, i.e. 後段. So, the requirement sentence(s) (本文) and the proviso ただし書き). Proviso is a fancy word for “exception statement.”
There are a few stock phrases used to indicate a proviso. Typically, the proviso statements begin with 「ただし、・・・」 (lit. “however,”), which is where the name ただし書き originates. Many times, the statement ends with such phrases as: 「・・・この限りでない。」 or 「・・・を要しない。」.
Provisos
Always remember that the provisos come after the main requirement. Usually this comes in the form a prohibition, in the 本文, and relief, in the ただし書き, i.e. "however, this restriction does not apply to … cases." In these cases, the ただし書き is the 後段.
It is fairly common that there may be multiple proviso cases or conditions. While these can be listed in line in the paragraph, it is also common to see them listed as subordinate items. The ただし書き usually includes terms like いずれか (lit. "either" or "any") to indicate the sense of "if any one of the conditions apply, the proviso applies," otherwise, all the conditions must be met simultaneously for the proviso to apply.
Sometimes the text will refer back to the previous article (前条), rather than using the article number. Even more granular local references can be made: 前条２項, lit. “the second paragraph of the previous article.”
Don’t confuse this with 前段, which is the first sentence of a paragraph or item, etc.
In the following example, 前項 (previous paragraph) is used to refer backwards. Note modifier in Paragraph 3: “proviso of the previous paragraph”.
It may seem tedious to learn terms like 前段, 前条, ただし書き, etc., but these are commonly used literary devices used to make efficient references within an otherwise lengthy and convoluted legal document.
Even many native Japanese speakers have difficulty with reading laws, primarily because they do not understand the simple conventions that are discussed in this article.
Now, let’s talk about outline structure at scales larger than the article-level, i.e. grouping of multiple provisions. There is a system of up to five levels that can be used to group articles. This grouping is purely done based on the topical relationship of article.
The order of levels from largest to smallest is shown in the figure below.
Note that these groups are not required to be used. A law or order can exist with just articles, paragraphs and items. However, these groups of provisions provide additional organization, contextual and wayfinding benefits.
It’s very common to see chapters (章) and sections (節) used for most laws and orders. In more complex laws, chapters, sections and subsections (款). And in even larger, more extensive laws, perhaps all five levels with parts (編) at the top and divisions (目 ) being the most granular.
As discussed in the previous article, the table of contents provided in laws is considered part of the law. If any of these five outline levels are used for grouping provisions, they are listed in the table of contents.
There are two important things to remember:
Below is an excerpted portion of the table of contents for the Civil Code (民法), which is an example of very extensive law that uses all five grouping levels of provisions.
Note that the Civil Code is an extreme example. The Building Standards Act (建築基準法), which is the primary law relating to building design and construction, only uses chapters and sections.