# 刑事訴訟法 / Code of Criminal Procedure — 第三百二十条 (Article 320)

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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: 第三百二十条 (Article 320) — address `art-320`
- Text in force since: 2026-10-20
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-320
- 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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### 第三百二十条
<sup>art-320 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-320</sup>

    **第一項**  第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条に規定する場合を除いては、公判期日における供述に代えて書面を証拠とし、又は公判期日外における他の者の供述を内容とする供述を証拠とすることはできない。
    <sup>art-320/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-320/par-1</sup>
    No document nor statement of another person made on a day other than the trial date may be used as evidence in lieu of a statement made on the trial date, unless as otherwise prescribed in Articles 321 to 328.
    <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

    **第二項**  第二百九十一条の二の決定があつた事件の証拠については、前項の規定は、これを適用しない。但し、検察官、被告人又は弁護人が証拠とすることに異議を述べたものについては、この限りでない。
    <sup>art-320/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-320/par-2</sup>
    When the ruling prescribed in Article 291-2 has been rendered, the provisions of the preceding paragraph do not apply to the evidence; provided however, that this does not apply to evidence to which the public prosecutor, the defendant or the defense counsel raises an objection.
    <sup>Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "When the ruling prescribed in Article 291-2 has been rendered, the provisions of the preceding paragraph do not apply to the evidence; provided however, that this does not apply to evidence to which the public prosecutor, the accused or the defense counsel raises an objection." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3739/tb</sup>

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## Cites
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十一条 (Article 321), art-321 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-321
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十一条の二 (Article 321-2), art-321-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-321-2
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十一条の三 (Article 321-3), art-321-3 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-321-3
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十二条 (Article 322), art-322 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-322
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十三条 (Article 323), art-323 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-323
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十四条 (Article 324), art-324 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-324
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十五条 (Article 325), art-325 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-325
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十六条 (Article 326), art-326 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-326
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十七条 (Article 327), art-327 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-327
- art-320/par-1: 第三百二十一条乃至第三百二十八条 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十八条 (Article 328), art-328 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-328
- art-320/par-2: 第二百九十一条の二 → 刑事訴訟法 第二百九十一条の二 (Article 291-2), art-291-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-291-2
- art-320/par-2: 前項 → 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十条第一項 (Article 320, paragraph (1)), art-320/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-320/par-1

## Cited by

2 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction.

- 刑事訴訟法 第三百二十条第二項 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-320/par-2
- 刑事訴訟法 第三百五十条の二十七第一項 — https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-350-27/par-1

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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 320, paragraph (2) — 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