Japanese legal terms explainedLaws and how to read them
Renumbered article
繰下げ・繰上げ
An amending law usually leaves every article's number alone: a new article takes a branch number such as Article 32-2, and a repealed one leaves 削除 (Deleted) at its number. Sometimes it moves a run of articles to new numbers instead — 繰下げ (moving them down) to make room, or 繰上げ (moving them up) to close a gap. The words of a moved article need not change, but books, court decisions and contracts written before cite it by its old number. This site marks a moved article with the number it had before the amendment: Act No. 53 of 2023 (令和五年法律第五十三号) makes Article 55 of the Act on Land and Building Leases (借地借家法) Article 58.