# 民法 / Civil Code — 第二百五十一条 (Article 251) - 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: 第二百五十一条 (Article 251)（共有物の変更） — address `art-251` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-251 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-251 - 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. --- ### 第二百五十一条（共有物の変更） — (Changes to Property in Co-Ownership) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-251 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-251 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-251 **第一項** 各共有者は、他の共有者の同意を得なければ、共有物に変更（その形状又は効用の著しい変更を伴わないものを除く。次項において同じ。）を加えることができない。 art-251/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-251/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-251/par-1 No co-owner may make changes (excluding those that do not involve extreme changes to the shape or function; the same applies in the following paragraph) to the property in co-ownership without the consent of the other co-owners. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 共有者が他の共有者を知ることができず、又はその所在を知ることができないときは、裁判所は、共有者の請求により、当該他の共有者以外の他の共有者の同意を得て共有物に変更を加えることができる旨の裁判をすることができる。 art-251/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-251/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-251/par-2 If a co-owner is unable to ascertain the identity of another co-owner or their whereabouts, the court may, at the request of the co-owner, render a judicial decision to the effect that changes may be made to the property in co-ownership with the consent of the co-owners other than the other co-owner in question. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-251/par-1: 次項 → 民法 第二百五十一条第二項 (Article 251, paragraph (2)), art-251/par-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-251/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-251/par-2 ## Cited by 3 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 建物の区分所有等に関する法律 附則第四条第一項（共用部分に関する合意等に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/en/building-unit-ownership-act/suppl-3581-51/art-4/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/337AC0000000069/suppl-3581-51/art-4/par-1 - 民法 第二百五十一条第一項（共有物の変更） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-251/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-251/par-1 - 民法 第二百五十二条第一項（共有物の管理） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-252/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-252/par-1 --- ## 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