# 商法 / Commercial Code — 第五百三十七条 (Article 537) This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-537. Every law, and how to address a provision: https://japanlaw.org/llms.txt. The same laws as MCP tools (no sign-in): https://japanlaw.org/mcp. - Law: 商法 (Commercial Code), 明治三十二年法律第四十八号 - English title "Commercial Code": 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: 第五百三十七条 (Article 537)（自己の氏名等の使用を許諾した匿名組合員の責任） — address `art-537` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-537 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/132AC0000000048/art-537 - 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. --- ### 第五百三十七条（自己の氏名等の使用を許諾した匿名組合員の責任） — (Liability of Silent Partners Permitting Use of Their Own Names) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-537 · https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-537 · https://japanlaw.org/l/132AC0000000048/art-537 **第一項** 匿名組合員は、自己の氏若しくは氏名を営業者の商号中に用いること又は自己の商号を営業者の商号として使用することを許諾したときは、その使用以後に生じた債務については、営業者と連帯してこれを弁済する責任を負う。 art-537/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-537/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/132AC0000000048/art-537/par-1 If a silent partner permits the use of their own surname or full name in the trade name of the proprietor or permits the use of its own trade name as the trade name of the proprietor, the partner is liable, jointly and severally with the proprietor, for any obligations arising once the name is in use. Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "If a silent partner permits the use of their own surname or full name in the trade name of the proprietor or permits the use of its own trade name in the trade name of the proprietor, the partner is liable, jointly and severally with the proprietor, for any obligations arising once the name is in use." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4293/tb --- ## Sources - claude-opus-5-5 — Corrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of paragraphs, written 2026-11-05 - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 商法 — the text in force from 2026-06-24 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/132AC0000000048/20260624_508AC0000000046), retrieved 2026-11-05 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Commercial Code (商法), Article 537, paragraph (1) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4293/tb), retrieved 2026-11-05 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Commercial Code — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4293/tb), retrieved 2026-11-05 - This site's parser, version 224 — 商法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-11-05