TOML

Japanese Law Numbers - TOML

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

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

[[items]]
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"

[[items]]
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"

[[items]]
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"

[[items]]
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"

[[items]]
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"