# 商法 / Commercial Code — 第六百八十四条 (Article 684) This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-684. 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: 第六百八十四条 (Article 684)（定義） — address `art-684` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-684 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/132AC0000000048/art-684 - 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. --- ### 第六百八十四条（定義） — (Definition) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-684 · https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-684 · https://japanlaw.org/l/132AC0000000048/art-684 **第一項** この編（第七百四十七条を除く。）において「船舶」とは、商行為をする目的で航海の用に供する船舶（端舟その他ろかいのみをもって運転し、又は主としてろかいをもって運転する舟を除く。）をいう。 art-684/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-684/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/132AC0000000048/art-684/par-1 The term "ship" as used in this Part (excluding Article 747) means a ship that is used in a voyage at sea for the purpose of conducting a commercial transaction (excluding a ship's tender or a boat steered solely or mainly using oars or paddles). Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "The term "ship" as used in this Part (excluding Article 747) means a ship that is used in a voyage at sea for the purpose of conducting a commercial act (excluding a ship's tender or a boat steered solely or mainly using oars or paddles)." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4293/tb --- ## Cites - art-684/par-1: 第七百四十七条 → 商法 第七百四十七条 (Article 747), art-747 — https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-747 · https://japanlaw.org/l/132AC0000000048/art-747 ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 商法 第五百六十九条第一項第三号 — https://japanlaw.org/en/commercial-code/art-569/par-1/item-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/132AC0000000048/art-569/par-1/item-3 --- ## 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 684, 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