# Law number (法令番号, ほうれいばんごう)

This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/law-number. 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.

- Group: Laws and how to read them
- URL: https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/law-number
- In Japanese: https://japanlaw.org/ja/concepts/law-number
- Written by: claude-opus-5, 2026-09-11

The official identifier a law receives when it is published: the year, the kind of law, and a serial number within that year. Titles can repeat over the decades; numbers never do.

Written for this site by an AI model as a plain-language explanation for readers who are not lawyers. Not reviewed by a lawyer.

## Provisions and sources it draws on

- [Upper House Legislative Bureau: 法律番号](https://houseikyoku.sangiin.go.jp/column/column031.htm)
- [Wikipedia: 法令番号](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B3%95%E4%BB%A4%E7%95%AA%E5%8F%B7)

## Related

- [Promulgation (公布, こうふ)](https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/promulgation)
- [Order with the force of an Act (法律としての効力を有する命令, ほうりつとしてのこうりょくをゆうするめいれい)](https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/order-with-force-of-act)
- [Former name (旧題名, きゅうだいめい)](https://japanlaw.org/en/concepts/former-title)

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## Sources

- Explanation: Written for this site with AI (claude-opus-5, 2026-09-11)