# 民事訴訟法 / Code of Civil Procedure — 第三十八条 (Article 38) - 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: 第三十八条 (Article 38)（共同訴訟の要件） — address `art-38` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-civil-procedure/art-38 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-38 - 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. --- ### 第三十八条（共同訴訟の要件） — (Requirements for Joint Litigation) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-38 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-civil-procedure/art-38 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-38 **第一項** 訴訟の目的である権利又は義務が数人について共通であるとき、又は同一の事実上及び法律上の原因に基づくときは、その数人は、共同訴訟人として訴え、又は訴えられることができる。訴訟の目的である権利又は義務が同種であって事実上及び法律上同種の原因に基づくときも、同様とする。 art-38/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-civil-procedure/art-38/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-38/par-1 If rights or obligations that are the subject matter of litigation are common to two or more persons or are based on the same factual or statutory causes, these persons may sue or be sued as co-litigants. The same applies if rights or obligations that are the subject matter of litigation are of the same kind and based on the same kind of factual or statutory causes. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System ## Cited by 2 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民事訴訟法 第三条の六第一項（併合請求における管轄権） — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-civil-procedure/art-3-6/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-3-6/par-1 - 民事訴訟法 第七条第一項（併合請求における管轄） — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-civil-procedure/art-7/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-7/par-1 --- ## 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