# 刑事訴訟法 / Code of Criminal Procedure — 第三百九十一条 (Article 391)

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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: 第三百九十一条 (Article 391) — address `art-391`
- Text in force since: 2026-10-20
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-391
- 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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### 第三百九十一条
<sup>art-391 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-391</sup>

  **第一項**  弁護人が出頭しないとき、又は弁護人の選任がないときは、この法律により弁護人を要する場合又は決定で弁護人を附した場合を除いては、検察官の陳述を聴いて判決をすることができる。
  <sup>art-391/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/code-of-criminal-procedure/art-391/par-1</sup>
  When defense counsel does not appear or has not been appointed, the court may render a judgment after hearing the opinion of the public prosecutor, except when the appointment of defense counsel is necessary pursuant to this Code or when the court, on a ruling, appoints defense counsel.
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "When counsel does not appear or has not been appointed, the court may render a judgment after hearing the opinion of the public prosecutor, except when the appointment of counsel is necessary pursuant to this Act or when the court, on a ruling, appoint counsel." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3740/tb</sup>

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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 391, paragraph (1) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3740/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