# 会社法 / Companies Act — 第九百六十六条 (Article 966)

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- 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: 第九百六十六条 (Article 966)（株式の超過発行の罪） — address `art-966`
- Text in force since: 2026-08-12
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-966
- Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-966
- 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.

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### 第九百六十六条（株式の超過発行の罪） — (Crime of Excessive Issue of Shares)
<sup>caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>
<sup>art-966 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-966 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-966</sup>

**第一項**  次に掲げる者が、株式会社が発行することができる株式の総数を超えて株式を発行したときは、五年以下の拘禁刑又は五百万円以下の罰金に処する。
<sup>art-966/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-966/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-966/par-1</sup>
When any one of the following persons issues shares exceeding the total number of shares that may be issued by a stock company, the person is punished by imprisonment for not more than five years or a fine of not more than five million yen:
<sup>machine translation, not official</sup>

  **一**  発起人
  <sup>art-966/par-1/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-966/par-1/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-966/par-1/item-1</sup>
  an incorporator;
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

  **二**  設立時取締役又は設立時執行役
  <sup>art-966/par-1/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-966/par-1/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-966/par-1/item-2</sup>
  a director at incorporation or executive officer at incorporation;
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

  **三**  取締役、執行役又は清算株式会社の清算人
  <sup>art-966/par-1/item-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-966/par-1/item-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-966/par-1/item-3</sup>
  a director or executive officer or a liquidator of a liquidating stock company;
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

  **四**  民事保全法第五十六条に規定する仮処分命令により選任された取締役、執行役又は清算株式会社の清算人の職務を代行する者
  <sup>art-966/par-1/item-4 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-966/par-1/item-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-966/par-1/item-4</sup>
  a person to perform duties on behalf of a director or executive officer or a liquidator of a liquidating stock company who has been appointed based on a provisional disposition order under the provisions of Article 56 of the Civil Provisional Remedies Act; or
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

  **五**  第三百四十六条第二項（第四百七十九条第四項において準用する場合を含む。）又は第四百三条第三項において準用する第四百一条第三項の規定により選任された一時取締役（監査等委員会設置会社にあっては、監査等委員である取締役又はそれ以外の取締役）、執行役又は清算株式会社の清算人の職務を行うべき者
  <sup>art-966/par-1/item-5 · https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-966/par-1/item-5 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-966/par-1/item-5</sup>
  a person who is temporarily to perform the duties of a director (in cases of a company with audit and supervisory committee, a director who is an audit and supervisory committee member or other director), an executive officer or a liquidator of a liquidating stock company appointed pursuant to the provisions of Article 346, paragraph (2) (including the cases where it is applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 479, paragraph (4)) or Article 401, paragraph (3) as applied mutatis mutandis pursuant to Article 403, paragraph (3).
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

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## Cites
- art-966/par-1/item-4: 民事保全法第五十六条 → e-Gov law 401AC0000000091, 第五十六条 (Article 56), art-56 — not held in this collection
- art-966/par-1/item-5: 第三百四十六条第二項 → 会社法 第三百四十六条第二項 (Article 346, paragraph (2)), art-346/par-2 — https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-346/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-346/par-2
- art-966/par-1/item-5: 第四百七十九条第四項 → 会社法 第四百七十九条第四項 (Article 479, paragraph (4)), art-479/par-4 — https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-479/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-479/par-4
- art-966/par-1/item-5: 第四百三条第三項 → 会社法 第四百三条第三項 (Article 403, paragraph (3)), art-403/par-3 — https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-403/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-403/par-3
- art-966/par-1/item-5: 第四百一条第三項 → 会社法 第四百一条第三項 (Article 401, paragraph (3)), art-401/par-3 — https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-401/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-401/par-3

## Cited by

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

- 会社法 第九百七十一条第一項（国外犯） — https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-971/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-971/par-1
- 会社法 第九百七十二条第一項（法人における罰則の適用） — https://japanlaw.org/en/companies-act/art-972/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-972/par-1

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## 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
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Companies Act — Ministry of Justice translation (part 2 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4482/tb), retrieved 2026-09-17
- claude-opus-5[1m] — Machine translation, batch companies-act-20260917T143643-002, translated 2026-09-17
- This site's parser, version 223 — 会社法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-09-17