# 民事訴訟法 / Code of Civil Procedure — 第二百四十七条 (Article 247)

- Law: 民事訴訟法 (Code of Civil Procedure), 平成八年法律第百九号
- English title "Code of Civil Procedure": 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: 第二百四十七条 (Article 247)（自由心証主義） — address `art-247`
- Text in force since: 2026-06-24
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-civil-procedure/art-247
- Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-247
- 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.

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### 第二百四十七条（自由心証主義） — (Principle of the Freedom of Personal Conviction)
<sup>caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>
<sup>art-247 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-civil-procedure/art-247 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-247</sup>

  **第一項**  裁判所は、判決をするに当たり、口頭弁論の全趣旨及び証拠調べの結果をしん酌して、自由な心証により、事実についての主張を真実と認めるべきか否かを判断する。
  <sup>art-247/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-civil-procedure/art-247/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-247/par-1</sup>
  In reaching a judgment, the court decides whether to find allegations of fact to be true based on its freedom of personal conviction, in light of the entire import of oral arguments and the results of the examination of evidence.
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

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## Sources

- e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 民事訴訟法 — the text in force from 2026-06-24 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/408AC0000000109/20260624_508AC0000000046), retrieved 2026-10-17
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Code of Civil Procedure — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4797/tb), retrieved 2026-10-17
- This site's parser, version 209 — 民事訴訟法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-17