# 民法 / Civil Code — 第二百二十一条 (Article 221) - Law: 民法 (Civil Code), 明治二十九年法律第八十九号 - English title "Civil Code": Ministry of Justice translation - Kind: Act — the distinction between 法律 (Act), 政令 (Cabinet Order), 省令 (Ministerial Order) and 条例 (local ordinance) decides who may issue it and what it may say. - Provision: 第二百二十一条 (Article 221)（通水用工作物の使用） — address `art-221` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-221 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-221 - Every provision below carries its address and both URLs on the line under it. - Japanese text: e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁). English: as marked on each line below. Only the Japanese as published by the government has legal effect; the text below is a copy of it. Every English rendering below is a translation and says which kind: the Ministry of Justice's translation, or this site's machine translation, whose model and date the Sources list names. They are never merged and never substituted for one another. --- ### 第二百二十一条（通水用工作物の使用） — (Use of Structures to Direct Water) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-221 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-221 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-221 **第一項** 土地の所有者は、その所有地の水を通過させるため、高地又は低地の所有者が設けた工作物を使用することができる。 art-221/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-221/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-221/par-1 A landowner may use a structure installed by the owner of higher or lower land in order to cause water from the landowner's land to pass through that land. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 前項の場合には、他人の工作物を使用する者は、その利益を受ける割合に応じて、工作物の設置及び保存の費用を分担しなければならない。 art-221/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-221/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-221/par-2 In the cases referred to in the preceding paragraph, the person using the other person's structure must bear the expenses of the installation and preservation of the structure in proportion to the benefit that person enjoys. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-221/par-2: 前項 → 民法 第二百二十一条第一項 (Article 221, paragraph (1)), art-221/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-221/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-221/par-1 ## Cited by 2 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民法 第二百二十一条第二項（通水用工作物の使用） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-221/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-221/par-2 - 民法 第二百二十二条第三項（堰の設置及び使用） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-222/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-222/par-3 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 民法 — the text in force from 2026-06-24 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/129AC0000000089/20260624_508AC0000000045), retrieved 2026-10-11 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Civil Code — Ministry of Justice translation (part 1 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4848/tb), retrieved 2026-10-11 - This site's parser, version 190 — 民法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-11