# 刑事訴訟法 / Code of Criminal Procedure — 第二百五十六条 (Article 256)

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- Law: 刑事訴訟法 (Code of Criminal Procedure), 昭和二十三年法律第百三十一号
- English title "Code of Criminal 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: 第二百五十六条 (Article 256) — address `art-256`
- Text in force since: 2026-10-20
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256
- e-Gov law ID: 323AC0000000131 — never renamed. A permanent link, `/l/{lawId}/{address}` on this site, redirects to the page.
- Every provision below carries its address and its URL 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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### 第二百五十六条
<sup>art-256 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256</sup>

  **第一項**  公訴の提起は、起訴状を提出してこれをしなければならない。
  <sup>art-256/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-1</sup>
  Prosecution must be instituted by submitting the charging sheet to the court.
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

  **第二項**  起訴状には、左の事項を記載しなければならない。
  <sup>art-256/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-2</sup>
  The charging sheet must contain:
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

    **一**  被告人の氏名その他被告人を特定するに足りる事項
    <sup>art-256/par-2/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-2/item-1</sup>
    the name of the defendant and other particulars necessary to specify the defendant;
    <sup>Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "the name of the accused and other particulars necessary to specify the accused;" — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb</sup>

    **二**  公訴事実
    <sup>art-256/par-2/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-2/item-2</sup>
    the charged facts;
    <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

    **三**  罪名
    <sup>art-256/par-2/item-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-2/item-3</sup>
    the charged offense.
    <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

  **第三項**  公訴事実は、訴因を明示してこれを記載しなければならない。訴因を明示するには、できる限り日時、場所及び方法を以て罪となるべき事実を特定してこれをしなければならない。
  <sup>art-256/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-3</sup>
  The charged facts must be described with clarified counts. To clarify the counts, the facts constituting the offense must be specified as far as possible by the time, place and method.
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "The charged facts must be described with clarified counts. To clarify the counts, the time, place and method of offense must be specified as far as possible." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb</sup>

  **第四項**  罪名は、適用すべき罰条を示してこれを記載しなければならない。但し、罰条の記載の誤は、被告人の防禦に実質的な不利益を生ずる虞がない限り、公訴提起の効力に影響を及ぼさない。
  <sup>art-256/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-4</sup>
  The charged offense must be described with applicable penal statutes; provided however, that errors in the enumeration of such statutes do not affect the validity of institution of prosecution as long as there is no fear that they may create any substantial disadvantage to the defense of the defendant.
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "The charged offense must be described with applicable penal statutes; provided however, that errors in the enumeration of such statutes do not affect the validity of institution of prosecution as long as there is no fear that they may create any substantial disadvantage to the defense of the accused." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb</sup>

  **第五項**  数個の訴因及び罰条は、予備的に又は択一的にこれを記載することができる。
  <sup>art-256/par-5 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-5</sup>
  Several counts and applicable penal statutes may be entered in a subsidiary or alternative way.
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "Several counts and applicable penal statutes may be entered in a conjunctive or alternative way." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb</sup>

  **第六項**  起訴状には、裁判官に事件につき予断を生ぜしめる虞のある書類その他の物を添附し、又はその内容を引用してはならない。
  <sup>art-256/par-6 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-256/par-6</sup>
  No documents or other articles which may cause the judge to be prejudiced are to be attached or referred to in the charging sheet.
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

## Cited by

1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction.

- 刑事訴訟法 第二百七十一条の二第三項 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-271-2/par-3

---

## Sources

- claude-opus-5-5 — Corrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of the Code of Criminal Procedure, written 2026-11-06
- e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 刑事訴訟法 — the text in force from 2026-10-20 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/323AC0000000131/20261020_508AC0000000067), retrieved 2026-11-06
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), Article 256, paragraph (2), item (i) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb), retrieved 2026-11-06
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), Article 256, paragraph (3) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb), retrieved 2026-11-06
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), Article 256, paragraph (4) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb), retrieved 2026-11-06
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), Article 256, paragraph (5) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb), retrieved 2026-11-06
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Code of Criminal Procedure — Ministry of Justice translation (part 1 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb), retrieved 2026-11-06
- This site's parser, version 225 — 刑事訴訟法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-11-06