japanlaw.org

What a Japanese law is for, who it applies to, and its chapters and articles. One law: titles, number, kind, when the text in force took effect, the texts held (versions: in force, not yet in force, no longer in force, each with the days it stands), how much of it has the Ministry's English, and this site's plain description of it — what it is for, who it applies to and who it does not, and on request (aspect) its exceptions and how it is enforced — each claim with the provisions it rests on (basis). Then its outline: by default the parts and chapters of the main text (編, 章); outline "articles" lists every article (for a very long law, its headings instead), and under (a heading's path, such as ch-4) lists everything under that heading. outlineUrl turns an outline path into its page.

get_law

Find the provisions that refer to a given one — in the same law, in other laws, and in the Cabinet and Ministerial Orders (政令, 省令) that set the details it leaves to them: every provision in the laws japanlaw.org holds that cites the given one. Each with its law, designation, the words it cites with, an id for fetch and its url; link each one you name by its fromUrl. Call it with law and address, as get_provision: {"law": "labor-standards-act", "address": "Article 36(1)"}.

get_citing_provisions

Check whether japanlaw.org holds a law, and find the name to pass as law. Every law japanlaw.org holds — or only those of one kind (法律 Act, 政令 Cabinet Order, 省令 Ministerial Order…), of one topic, or whose names hold query's words — each with its Japanese and English title, kind, law number and url; get_law has the rest. total counts the laws listed, held all the laws held, and kinds counts them by kind. A law not in the whole list is not held, whatever its kind — a 条例 (a prefecture's or city's ordinance) included — so say so rather than quoting its text from memory.

list_laws

What a word means in a Japanese law that defines it. The words a law defines for itself (定義語): inside that law, and only as far as each definition reaches, the word means what the statute says, not what it means in everyday speech or in another law. For each, the statute's own words (statuteJa), its reading, its English and whose that is (englishWhose), a plain explanation by japanlaw.org (explanation, in lang), where it is defined (definedAt, url) and how far it reaches (scope, scopeLabel). With address — {"law": "labor-standards-act", "address": "art-36"} — the definitions that apply in that provision, because its text uses the word, and japanlaw.org's explanations of the words of Japanese law it uses (concepts: 施行, 政令, 附則…). Call it before explaining what a provision means. term narrows the answer to one word, in Japanese, its reading or its English. A law with many terms stops at one; continued.cursor, passed back as cursor with the same arguments, goes on. The text in force only.

get_definitions

Read in full a law or provision search found, by its id. A provision's id (labor-standards-act/art-36) returns it as Markdown: the Japanese text with each paragraph's English under it, every English line marked as the Ministry of Justice's translation, the Ministry's with a slip corrected, or machine translation; its address and URLs on every line; what it cites and what cites it; and its sources. A law's id (labor-standards-act) returns the law's overview — what it is for, who it applies to, how it is enforced — the texts held, and its outline, never its whole text. A japanlaw.org URL is accepted as an id too. A provision is read in the text in force unless asOf (a day) or version names another text held: an earlier one, or one an amendment not yet in force will leave.

fetch

日本の法令の条・項・号の本文を読む。引用や説明の前に確かめる（改正で文言が変わっていることがある）。 Read the text of an article, paragraph or item of a Japanese law, to quote or explain it: the wording may have changed since a model learned it. One article, paragraph or item of a law, with everything under it. Call it with law and address: {"law": "labor-standards-act", "address": "art-36"}, or {"law": "労働基準法", "address": "第三十二条の三第一項"}. For each paragraph and item, the Japanese text (textJa), its English (textEn) and whose that English is (englishWhose: ministry — the Ministry of Justice's translation; corrected — the Ministry's with a slip this site corrected; machine — this site's machine translation, not official), and its url. Also the terms it defines, how many provisions it cites and how many cite it (references "lists" names them), and the official e-Gov page. A very long one — a big appended table, a 附則 of many articles — stops at a provision; continued.cursor, passed back as cursor with the same address, goes on from there. Shown to the reader as a card where the chat app can draw one. The text in force by default; asOf (a day) or version reads another text held — as it stood on a past day, or as an amendment not yet in force will leave it — and version says which text the answer is. Quoting it, link its url (the reader's page, with the English marked), not e-Gov's, and say whose English each quoted paragraph is.

get_provision

日本の法令についての質問（有給休暇、解雇予告、留学生のアルバイト、在留資格、確定申告など）に、根拠となる条文を探す。 Find what Japanese law says on a question asked in words — paid leave, notice of dismissal, a student's part-time work, 有給休暇, 解雇予告 — and the provisions to quote and link. Search the Japanese statutes japanlaw.org holds, in force today. A query with any Japanese in it searches the Japanese text (時間外労働, 有給休暇); one without searches the English shown for each provision, stemmed (overtime, paid leave). Results are the laws whose names or descriptions match — as many as limit, lawsTotal counting them all — then one result per matching article at its best-matching paragraph or item, best first; each has an id to pass to fetch (or pass its law and path to get_provision as law and address), the page's url, the Japanese and English designation (第三十六条第一項 / Article 36, paragraph (1)) and a snippet. terms lists words a law defines that match; concepts, words of Japanese law the site explains. Every word must be at least two characters. Only the laws list_laws names are searched; law searches one of them alone, its provisions and the terms it defines. When a law the reader names finds nothing, check list_laws: one not there is not held — say so rather than answering from memory.

search

What an amendment to a Japanese law changes, and when; for what changes across every law between two days, list_changes. A law's amendments whose changes japanlaw.org holds: the amending Act (titles, law number), the day it takes effect, whether it is in force, not yet in force or since replaced (state), how many provisions it changes, adds and removes, and its version — the text it leaves, which get_provision and fetch read where textHeld is true. With version — {"law": "labor-standards-act", "version": "20270401_508AC0000000060"} — every provision that amendment changes, its wording before and after in Japanese and English, and whose each English is (beforeEnglishWhose, afterEnglishWhose). A long one stops at a provision; continued.cursor, passed back as cursor with the same version, goes on. An amendment e-Gov publishes no text for is named as such (comparedAcross, textPublished false): its changes are listed with the next amendment's and cannot be told apart from them — never describe them as its own. One whose changes are not held says so; never describe its changes from memory. Link each amendment by its url.

get_amendments

What changes in Japanese law between two days, across every law japanlaw.org holds — 来年施行される改正、4月1日に変わる法令 — or one law's, or one topic's. Each change: the day it takes effect (day: on that day; by, a day a Cabinet Order sets, that day at the latest; open, not set yet), whether it is still to come, the law, the amending Act (titles, law number), its version, and its url. With no until, every change still to come is listed, those with no day yet last; since defaults to today. A long list stops at limit; continued.cursor, passed back as cursor with the same arguments, goes on. For what one change does, provision by provision, call get_amendments with its law and version. Link each change by its url.

list_changes