# Japanese — General Legal Sub-Lexicon

Auto-generated from translation experience. Maps Japanese general legal terms
to their correct English equivalents.

## Universal Legal Terms

| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 契約 / 契約書 | contract / agreement |
| 当事者 | party |
| 甲 / 乙 / 丙 | Party A / Party B / Party C |
| 条項 / 規定 | Section (US default) / Clause (UK) / provision |
| 前文 / 頭書 | recitals / preamble |
| 定義 | definitions |
| 期間 / 有効期間 | term / duration |
| 解除 | rescission / termination with retroactive effect (Art. 545 Civil Code — returns parties to pre-contract state) |
| 解約 | cancellation / prospective termination (no retroactive effect) |
| 更新 / 延長 | renewal / extension |
| 譲渡 | assignment / transfer |
| 代位 | subrogation |
| 変更 / 修正 | amendment / modification |
| 放棄 / 権利放棄 | waiver |
| 通知 | notice |
| 届出 | notification / filing |
| 表明 / 宣言 | declaration / statement |
| 義務 | obligation / duty |
| 権利 | right |
| 責任 | liability / responsibility |
| 民事責任 | civil liability |
| 補償 | indemnity / compensation (the obligation to make whole for a loss; distinct from liability in damages for breach) |
| 損害賠償 | damages (monetary compensation for breach or tort) |
| 逸失利益 | loss of profit |
| 直接損害 | direct loss / direct damage |
| 間接損害 | indirect loss / consequential damage |
| 不可抗力 | force majeure |
| 信義則 / 信義誠実の原則 | good faith / principle of good faith |
| 過失 | negligence |
| 故意 | intent / intentional conduct (generally translated as "intent" alone; "willful misconduct" only where paired with 重過失 — see next row) |
| 故意又は重過失 | wilful misconduct or gross negligence (UK) / willful misconduct or gross negligence (US) |
| 債務不履行 | breach of contract / non-performance |
| 履行 | performance / compliance |
| 強制履行 | specific performance |
| 保証 | guarantee / warranty |
| 保証金 / 敷金 | security deposit |
| 質権 | pledge |
| 抵当権 | mortgage |
| 委任状 | power of attorney |
| 委任 / 代理 | mandate / agency |
| 自然人 | natural person / individual |
| 法人 | legal person / juridical person |
| 準拠法 | governing law / applicable law |
| 管轄 / 裁判管轄 | jurisdiction |
| 仲裁廷 | arbitral tribunal |
| 調停 | mediation |
| 消滅時効 | limitation / statute of limitations |
| 除斥期間 | statutory period of exclusion / non-extendable period (distinct from 消滅時効 which can be tolled) |

## Additional Universal Terms (extended)

| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 法律行為 | juridical act / legal transaction |
| 行為能力 | capacity to act / legal capacity |
| 権利能力 | capacity to hold rights / legal personality |
| 成年後見 | adult guardianship |
| 制限行為能力者 | person with restricted capacity to act |
| 任意規定 / 任意法規 | default rule / non-mandatory rule |
| 強行規定 / 強行法規 | mandatory rule |
| 公序良俗 | public policy / public order and good morals (Art. 90 Civil Code) |
| 信義誠実の原則 | principle of good faith and fair dealing |
| 権利の濫用 | abuse of rights (Art. 1(3) Civil Code) |
| 取消し | revocation / avoidance (for voidable acts — capacity, mistake, fraud, duress) |
| 無効 | void / null and void |
| 取消可能 | voidable |
| 追認 | ratification |
| 錯誤 | mistake (Art. 95 Civil Code — basis for avoidance) |
| 詐欺 | fraud (civil) |
| 強迫 | duress |
| 虚偽表示 | fictitious declaration / sham transaction |
| 心裡留保 | mental reservation |
| 通謀虚偽表示 | collusive sham transaction |
| 債権 | claim / right to performance (obligation viewed from creditor's side) |
| 債務 | debt / duty to perform (obligation viewed from debtor's side) |
| 債権者 | creditor / obligee |
| 債務者 | debtor / obligor |
| 連帯債務 | joint and several liability |
| 不可分債務 | indivisible obligation |
| 分割債務 | severable / divisible obligation |
| 代位弁済 | subrogation by payment (third-party performance with statutory subrogation) |
| 弁済 | performance / payment |
| 供託 | deposit with official depository (statutory means of performance) |
| 相殺 | set-off (unilateral; Arts. 505-512 Civil Code) |
| 更改 | novation |
| 免除 | release / forgiveness (of debt) |
| 和解 | compromise agreement / settlement (Arts. 695-696 Civil Code) |
| 契約自由の原則 | freedom of contract / party autonomy |
| 約款 / 定型約款 | standard terms / standard-form contract clauses (Arts. 548-2 to 548-4 Civil Code, added in 2020 reform) |
| 債権譲渡 | assignment of claims (Arts. 466-473 Civil Code) |
| 債権譲渡通知 | notice of assignment (to the debtor) |
| 債務引受 | assumption of debt |
| 併存的債務引受 | cumulative assumption of debt |
| 免責的債務引受 | novation-by-assumption (releasing the original debtor) |
| 契約不適合 | non-conformity (replacing the old 瑕疵担保 "defect warranty" under the 2020 Civil Code reform) |
| 原状回復 | restitution / restoration to original state |
| 催告 | demand / notice to perform (precondition for rescission of many contracts) |
| 法定利率 | statutory interest rate (currently 3% p.a., variable under Art. 404 Civil Code) |
| 約定利率 | contractual interest rate |
| 不法行為 | tort / delict (Arts. 709 et seq. Civil Code) |
| 使用者責任 | employer's vicarious liability (Art. 715 Civil Code) |
| 工作物責任 | occupier's liability for defective structures (Art. 717 Civil Code) |
| 共同不法行為 | joint tort / concurrent tortfeasors |
| 過失相殺 | contributory negligence / comparative fault |
| 損益相殺 | set-off of loss against benefit |

## Cross-Reference Conventions

| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 第X条に基づき | pursuant to article X / under article X |
| に従い / に準じて | in accordance with |
| を害することなく | without prejudice to |
| 別段の合意がない限り | unless otherwise agreed |
| 法令の許す範囲内で | to the extent permitted by law |
| 本契約において | for the purposes of this agreement |
| を含むがこれに限らない | including but not limited to |
| 本契約 / 本契約書 | this agreement / the present agreement |
| 違反当事者 | the defaulting party |
| 非違反当事者 | the non-defaulting party |
| 両当事者は合意する | the parties agree |
| ……より効力を生じる | shall take effect from |

## Calendar and Era Conventions — MANDATORY

Per the universal rule in `references/general-legal.md`, all dates in the
English translation must be in full Gregorian form. This subsection
records the Japanese-specific era table, conversion arithmetic, and
placeholder handling. **Never use `Reiwa`, `Heisei`, `Showa`, `Taisho`,
or `Meiji` (or their CJK forms 令和/平成/昭和/大正/明治) in the English
output, not even parenthetically.**

### Era table

| Era  | Period                     | Romanization | First-year Gregorian |
|------|----------------------------|--------------|----------------------|
| 令和 | 1 May 2019 – present       | Reiwa        | 2019                 |
| 平成 | 8 Jan 1989 – 30 Apr 2019   | Heisei       | 1989                 |
| 昭和 | 25 Dec 1926 – 7 Jan 1989   | Showa        | 1926                 |
| 大正 | 30 Jul 1912 – 25 Dec 1926  | Taisho       | 1912                 |
| 明治 | 23 Oct 1868 – 30 Jul 1912  | Meiji        | 1868                 |

### Conversion examples

| Source | Output |
|---|---|
| `平成29年11月29日` | `29 November 2017` |
| `令和5年4月1日` | `1 April 2023` |
| `昭和64年1月7日` | `7 January 1989` (Showa 64 = Heisei 1 = 1989) |
| `平成元年` | `1989` (`元` = first year of era) |
| `令和10年` | `2028` (Gregorian = first-year + (era year − 1)) |

### Placeholders (unfilled date cells)

Drafts often contain blanks like `令和〇年〇月〇日` for a date to be filled
in later. Render the whole span as `[__] [Month] 20__` or
`[date to be inserted]` — do NOT translate the era segment as `Reiwa` and
do NOT apply the placeholder-zero rule to the year cell in
isolation. The era + placeholder-digit combination is a single semantic
unit; rendering it as `Reiwa 0` reads as "year zero" and is wrong on two
counts (era name preserved + meaningless year).

### Pre-Meiji dates

Rare in modern legal drafting. If encountered, render the Gregorian
equivalent (or a date range if the original era is ambiguous) and drop
the era reference. Add a brief Gregorian-bracketed note only if the
specific era is itself the subject of the legal reference (e.g., "the
[year] reform" where the era is named in the surrounding text).

## Key Japanese Legislative References

| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 民法 | Civil Code |
| 商法 | Commercial Code |
| 会社法 | Companies Act |
| 民事訴訟法 | Code of Civil Procedure |
| 労働基準法 | Labour Standards Act (UK) / Labor Standards Act (US) |
| 労働契約法 | Labour Contract Act (UK) / Labor Contract Act (US) |
| 独占禁止法 (独禁法) | Antimonopoly Act (AMA) |
| 金融商品取引法 (金商法) | Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) |
| 個人情報保護法 | Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) |
| 不正競争防止法 | Unfair Competition Prevention Act |
| 特許法 | Patent Act |
| 下請法 | Subcontract Act |
| 最高裁判所 | Supreme Court |

## Notes

- **Japanese numbering convention**: Japanese legal texts use 条 (article), 項 (paragraph),
  号 (item). A reference like "第5条第2項第3号" means Article 5, Paragraph 2, Item 3.
  Preserve this hierarchical structure.
- **"甲" / "乙"**: Japanese contracts traditionally designate parties as 甲 (Party A) and
  乙 (Party B). Translate as "Party A" / "Party B" or replace with the actual party names
  where identified.
- **Civil Code (民法)**: Japan's Civil Code was substantially reformed in 2020 (債権法改正).
  Key changes include the new warranty regime for contracts (契約不適合責任), replacing the
  prior "defect warranty" (瑕疵担保責任). Flag pre-reform vs post-reform terminology.
- **"信義則" (principle of good faith)**: A foundational principle in Japanese civil law
  (Art. 1(2) Civil Code). Courts apply it broadly. Translate as "principle of good faith"
  or simply "good faith" depending on context.
- **"法人"**: In Japanese law, legal persons include 株式会社 (kabushiki kaisha / KK),
  合同会社 (godo kaisha / GK), and various public interest legal persons. Translate as
  "legal person" or "juridical person" and specify the entity type where relevant.

## Standard Bilingual Dictionary (2006) — Additional Mappings

Source: 法令用語日英標準対訳辞書 (Ministry of Justice Standard Bilingual Dictionary, March 2006) — the authoritative government reference for Japanese→English legal translation.

| Japanese | English |
|---|---|
| 悪意 | with knowledge / in bad faith (civil-law sense — knowledge of a fact making a transaction defective) |
| 善意 | without knowledge / in good faith |
| 委任 | mandate (the civil-law contract under Art. 643 Civil Code); delegation (where "committing authority" is in point) |
| 委嘱 | commission / entrustment / delegation |
| 委託 | entrustment |
| 委託者 | consignor (sale/carriage) / settlor (trust) |
| 意思 | intent / intention |
| 意思表示 | manifestation of intention (NOT "declaration of will" — standard Ministry of Justice rendering) |
| 意思能力 | mental capacity |
| 遺言 | will (testamentary instrument) |
| 遺言執行者 | executor |
| 遺言者 | testator |
| 遺産 | estate |
| 遺産の分割 | partition of estate |
| 遺贈 | testamentary gift |
| 遺留分 | legally reserved portion (forced heirship — Art. 1042 Civil Code) |
| 遺族 | survivor / bereaved family |
| 公の秩序又は善良の風俗 | public policy (Art. 90 Civil Code — standard Ministry of Justice rendering) |
| 違反 | violation / offense / contravention / breach (context-dependent; "violation" for regulatory; "offense" for criminal; "contravention" for administrative; "breach" for contractual) |
| 違法 | unlawful / illegal |
| 違約金 | contractual penalty / liquidated damages (NB: in English-law drafting prefer "liquidated damages"; Japanese Civil Code Art. 420 treats 違約金 as presumptively 損害賠償の予定) |
| 異議 | objection |
| 異議の申立て | filing of an objection |
| 援用 | invocation (of a legal defense — e.g., 時効の援用 "invocation of prescription", Art. 145 Civil Code) / reference |
| おそれ | risk / likelihood |
| 応訴管轄 | jurisdiction by appearance |
| 汚職 | corruption |
| 押収 | seizure |
| 押印 | seal / affixing of a seal |
| 姻族 | relatives by affinity |
| 影響 | influence / effect / impact / prejudice |
| 営利 | profit (as a noun — business purpose of profit) |
| 営利の目的 | for (the purpose of) profit |
| 営業 | business |
| 営業秘密 | trade secret |
| 縁組 | adoption |
| 延期 | postponement |
| 延長 | extension |
| 親子 | parent and child (family-law context); parent and subsidiary (corporate-law context) |
| 親会社 | parent corporation |
| 及び | and |
| 又は | or |
| 並びに | and (used in compound enumerations — follows the strict "A, B, and C 並びに D" structure in Japanese legal drafting) |
| 若しくは | or (in compound enumerations — paired with 又は in strict Japanese drafting hierarchy) |
| ただし書 | proviso |
| 本文 | main clause |
| 前段 / 後段 | first sentence / second sentence |
| 附則 | supplementary provisions |
| 目次 | table of contents |
| 編 | Part |
| 章 | Chapter |
| 節 | Section |
| 款 | Subsection |
| 目 | Division |
| 条 | Article (Art.) |
| 項 | paragraph (para.) |
| 号 | item |
| 枝番号 | hyphenated/branch article number (e.g., Art. 3-2) |
| 別表 | appended table |
| 当分の間 | for the time being |
| に代わる | in lieu of |
| に照らし | in light of |
| に基づく | based on / pursuant to |
| の規定により | pursuant to the provision of |
| の規定にかかわらず | notwithstanding the provision of |
| のいずれかに該当する | fall under any of |
| については、…の例による | shall be governed by |
| に限る | limited to |
| 不服を申し立てることができない | no appeal may be entered |
| 公布の日 | the day of promulgation |
| この法律は、…から施行する | this Act shall come into force as from… |
| なおその効力を有する | shall remain in force |
