INI

Japanese Law Numbers - INI

Japanese law numbers are a numbering system assigned at the time of promulgation to identify laws, cabinet orders, imperial orders, ministerial ordinances, and rules. Numbers are assigned sequentially from No. 1 for each calendar year according to the type of law and year of enactment, and when the era name changes, numbering starts anew from No. 1 at that point. Assigned based on the promulgation date, they play an important role in uniquely identifying laws, especially when multiple laws share the same title. In the e-Gov law search system, a 15-digit law ID is used to identify laws in a machine-readable format.

law act cabinet order ministerial ordinance e-Gov law number legal system official gazette

[item.constitution]
code=1
slug=constitution
name=Constitution
description=The supreme law of Japan.
format=Constitution of Japan (no law number)
lawType=Constitution
lawIdPrefix=

[item.act]
code=2
slug=act
name=Act
description=Laws established through approval by the National Diet based on constitutional provisions.
format=Era Name Year Act No. X (e.g., Heisei 5 Act No. 88)
lawType=Act
lawIdPrefix=AC

[item.cabinet-order]
code=3
slug=cabinet-order
name=Cabinet Order
description=Orders issued by the Cabinet to implement constitutional and legal provisions.
format=Era Name Year Cabinet Order No. X (e.g., Showa 60 Cabinet Order No. 75)
lawType=CabinetOrder
lawIdPrefix=CO

[item.imperial-order]
code=4
slug=imperial-order
name=Imperial Order
description=An old form of law, but includes those still valid at the time data compilation began.
format=Era Name Year Imperial Order No. X (e.g., Showa 18 Imperial Order No. 618)
lawType=ImperialOrder
lawIdPrefix=IO

[item.ministerial-ordinance]
code=5
slug=ministerial-ordinance
name=Ministerial Ordinance
description=Orders established by heads of organizations based on laws and cabinet orders.
format=Era Name Year Ministry Ordinance No. X (e.g., Heisei 17 Ministry of Justice Ordinance No. 27)
lawType=MinisterialOrdinance
lawIdPrefix=M1-M6

[item.rule]
code=6
slug=rule
name=Rule
description=Rules such as National Personnel Authority rules, Board of Audit rules, and Supreme Court rules.
format=Era Name Year Rule No. X (e.g., Showa 22 Board of Audit Rule No. 1)
lawType=Rule
lawIdPrefix=R