# 会社法 / Companies Act — 第七十八条 (Article 78) This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-78. 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: 会社法 (Companies Act), 平成十七年法律第八十六号 - English title "Companies Act": 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: 第七十八条 (Article 78)（発起人の説明義務） — address `art-78` - Text in force since: 2026-08-12 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-78 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-78 - 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. --- ### 第七十八条（発起人の説明義務） — (Accountability of Incorporators) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-78 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-78 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-78 **第一項** 発起人は、創立総会において、設立時株主から特定の事項について説明を求められた場合には、当該事項について必要な説明をしなければならない。ただし、当該事項が創立総会の目的である事項に関しないものである場合、その説明をすることにより設立時株主の共同の利益を著しく害する場合その他正当な理由がある場合として法務省令で定める場合は、この限りでない。 art-78/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-78/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-78/par-1 If incorporators are requested by the shareholders at incorporation to provide explanations on certain matters at an organizational meeting, the incorporators must provide necessary explanations with respect to relevant matters; provided, however, that this does not apply if relevant matters are not relevant to the matters that are the purpose of the organizational meeting, or if relevant explanations are to the serious detriment of the common interest of the shareholders at incorporation, or in other cases prescribed by Ministry of Justice Order as cases where there are justifiable grounds. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 会社法 第八十六条第一項（創立総会に関する規定の準用） — https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-86/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-86/par-1 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 会社法 — the text in force from 2026-08-12 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/417AC0000000086/20260812_508AC0000000064), retrieved 2026-09-17 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Companies Act — Ministry of Justice translation (part 1 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4481/tb), retrieved 2026-09-17 - This site's parser, version 223 — 会社法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-09-17