# 民法 / Civil Code — 第四百一条 (Article 401) - 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: 第四百一条 (Article 401)（種類債権） — address `art-401` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-401 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-401 - 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. --- ### 第四百一条（種類債権） — (Fungible Claim) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-401 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-401 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-401 **第一項** 債権の目的物を種類のみで指定した場合において、法律行為の性質又は当事者の意思によってその品質を定めることができないときは、債務者は、中等の品質を有する物を給付しなければならない。 art-401/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-401/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-401/par-1 If the subject matter of a claim is designated only with reference to a type and its quality cannot be determined in light of the nature of the juridical act or intention of the parties, the obligor must deliver a thing of medium quality. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 前項の場合において、債務者が物の給付をするのに必要な行為を完了し、又は債権者の同意を得てその給付すべき物を指定したときは、以後その物を債権の目的物とする。 art-401/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-401/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-401/par-2 In the case referred to in the preceding paragraph, if the obligor has completed the acts necessary to deliver the thing, or has designated the thing the obligor is to deliver with the consent of the obligee, that thing thenceforth constitutes the subject matter of the claim. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-401/par-2: 前項 → 民法 第四百一条第一項 (Article 401, paragraph (1)), art-401/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-401/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-401/par-1 ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民法 第四百一条第二項（種類債権） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-401/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-401/par-2 --- ## 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