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Japanese Law Numbers - XML

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

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<items>
  <item>
    <code>1</code>
    <slug>constitution</slug>
    <name>Constitution</name>
    <description>The supreme law of Japan.</description>
    <format>Constitution of Japan (no law number)</format>
    <lawType>Constitution</lawType>
    <lawIdPrefix></lawIdPrefix>
  </item>
  <item>
    <code>2</code>
    <slug>act</slug>
    <name>Act</name>
    <description>Laws established through approval by the National Diet based on constitutional provisions.</description>
    <format>Era Name Year Act No. X (e.g., Heisei 5 Act No. 88)</format>
    <lawType>Act</lawType>
    <lawIdPrefix>AC</lawIdPrefix>
  </item>
  <item>
    <code>3</code>
    <slug>cabinet-order</slug>
    <name>Cabinet Order</name>
    <description>Orders issued by the Cabinet to implement constitutional and legal provisions.</description>
    <format>Era Name Year Cabinet Order No. X (e.g., Showa 60 Cabinet Order No. 75)</format>
    <lawType>CabinetOrder</lawType>
    <lawIdPrefix>CO</lawIdPrefix>
  </item>
  <item>
    <code>4</code>
    <slug>imperial-order</slug>
    <name>Imperial Order</name>
    <description>An old form of law, but includes those still valid at the time data compilation began.</description>
    <format>Era Name Year Imperial Order No. X (e.g., Showa 18 Imperial Order No. 618)</format>
    <lawType>ImperialOrder</lawType>
    <lawIdPrefix>IO</lawIdPrefix>
  </item>
  <item>
    <code>5</code>
    <slug>ministerial-ordinance</slug>
    <name>Ministerial Ordinance</name>
    <description>Orders established by heads of organizations based on laws and cabinet orders.</description>
    <format>Era Name Year Ministry Ordinance No. X (e.g., Heisei 17 Ministry of Justice Ordinance No. 27)</format>
    <lawType>MinisterialOrdinance</lawType>
    <lawIdPrefix>M1-M6</lawIdPrefix>
  </item>
  <item>
    <code>6</code>
    <slug>rule</slug>
    <name>Rule</name>
    <description>Rules such as National Personnel Authority rules, Board of Audit rules, and Supreme Court rules.</description>
    <format>Era Name Year Rule No. X (e.g., Showa 22 Board of Audit Rule No. 1)</format>
    <lawType>Rule</lawType>
    <lawIdPrefix>R</lawIdPrefix>
  </item>
</items>