# 民法 / Civil Code — 第五百五十七条 (Article 557) - 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: 第五百五十七条 (Article 557)（手付） — address `art-557` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-557 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-557 - 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. --- ### 第五百五十七条（手付） — (Earnest Money) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-557 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-557 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-557 **第一項** 買主が売主に手付を交付したときは、買主はその手付を放棄し、売主はその倍額を現実に提供して、契約の解除をすることができる。ただし、その相手方が契約の履行に着手した後は、この限りでない。 art-557/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-557/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-557/par-1 If the buyer pays earnest money to the seller, the buyer may cancel the contract by waiving the earnest money, or the seller may cancel the contract by actually providing the buyer with twice its amount; provided, however, that this does not apply after the counterparty commences performance of the contract. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 第五百四十五条第四項の規定は、前項の場合には、適用しない。 art-557/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-557/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-557/par-2 The provisions of Article 545, paragraph (4) do not apply to the cases referred to in the preceding paragraph. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-557/par-2: 第五百四十五条第四項 → 民法 第五百四十五条第四項 (Article 545, paragraph (4)), art-545/par-4 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-545/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-545/par-4 - art-557/par-2: 前項 → 民法 第五百五十七条第一項 (Article 557, paragraph (1)), art-557/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-557/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-557/par-1 ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民法 第五百五十七条第二項（手付） — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-557/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-557/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