# 刑事訴訟法 / Code of Criminal Procedure — 第二百八十一条 (Article 281)

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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: 第二百八十一条 (Article 281) — address `art-281`
- Text in force since: 2026-10-20
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-281
- 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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### 第二百八十一条
<sup>art-281 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-281</sup>

    **第一項**  証人については、裁判所は、第百五十八条に掲げる事項を考慮した上、検察官及び被告人又は弁護人の意見を聴き必要と認めるときに限り、公判期日外においてこれを尋問することができる。
    <sup>art-281/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-281/par-1</sup>
    Only if the court deems it necessary after considering the particulars prescribed in Article 158 and hearing the opinions of the public prosecutor and the defendant or the defense counsel, the court may examine the witness on a day other than the trial date.
    <sup>Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "If the court deems it necessary after considering the particulars prescribed in Article 158 and hearing the opinions of the public prosecutor and the accused or the defense counsel, the court may examine the witness on a day other than the trial date." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb</sup>

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## Cites
- art-281/par-1: 第百五十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第百五十八条 (Article 158), art-158 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-158

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## 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 281, paragraph (1) — 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