# 遺失物法 / Lost Property Act — 第一章 (Chapter 1) - Law: 遺失物法 (Lost Property Act), 平成十八年法律第七十三号 - English title "Lost Property Act": Ministry of Justice translation database, which lists the title - 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: 第一章 (Chapter 1) — address `ch-1` - Text in force since: 2025-06-01 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/ch-1 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/ch-1 - 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. --- ## 第一章　総則 — Chapter I General Provisions heading: machine translation, not official ch-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/ch-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/ch-1 ### 第一条（趣旨） — Purpose caption: machine translation, not official art-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-1 **第一項** この法律は、遺失物、埋蔵物その他の占有を離れた物の拾得及び返還に係る手続その他その取扱いに関し必要な事項を定めるものとする。 art-1/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-1/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-1/par-1 This Act is to provide for the procedures for the finding and return of lost property, buried things and other things that have left possession, and other matters necessary for their handling. machine translation, not official ### 第二条（定義） — Definitions caption: machine translation, not official art-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-2 **第一項** この法律において「物件」とは、遺失物及び埋蔵物並びに準遺失物（誤って占有した他人の物、他人の置き去った物及び逸走した家畜をいう。次条において同じ。）をいう。 art-2/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-2/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-2/par-1 In this Act, "property" means lost property and buried things, and quasi-lost property (meaning things of another person that have been possessed by mistake, things left behind by another person, and livestock that have run away; the same applies in the following Article). machine translation, not official **第二項** この法律において「拾得」とは、物件の占有を始めること（埋蔵物及び他人の置き去った物にあっては、これを発見すること）をいう。 art-2/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-2/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-2/par-2 In this Act, "finding" means starting to possess property (or, in the case of buried things and things left behind by another person, discovering them). machine translation, not official **第三項** この法律において「拾得者」とは、物件の拾得をした者をいう。 art-2/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-2/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-2/par-3 In this Act, "finder" means a person who has made a finding of property. machine translation, not official **第四項** この法律において「遺失者」とは、物件の占有をしていた者（他に所有者その他の当該物件の回復の請求権を有する者があるときは、その者を含む。）をいう。 art-2/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-2/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-2/par-4 In this Act, "person who lost" means a person who had been in possession of property (including, if there is an owner or any other person who has a right to claim recovery of that property, that person). machine translation, not official **第五項** この法律において「施設」とは、建築物その他の施設（車両、船舶、航空機その他の移動施設を含む。）であって、その管理に当たる者が常駐するものをいう。 art-2/par-5 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-2/par-5 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-2/par-5 In this Act, "facility" means a building or other facility (including mobile facilities such as vehicles, vessels and aircraft) in which a person in charge of its management is constantly present. machine translation, not official **第六項** この法律において「施設占有者」とは、施設の占有者をいう。 art-2/par-6 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-2/par-6 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-2/par-6 In this Act, "facility occupant" means the occupant of a facility. machine translation, not official ### 第三条（準遺失物に関する民法の規定の準用） — Application Mutatis Mutandis of the Provisions of the Civil Code to Quasi-Lost Property caption: machine translation, not official art-3 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-3 **第一項** 準遺失物については、民法（明治二十九年法律第八十九号）第二百四十条の規定を準用する。この場合において、同条中「これを拾得した」とあるのは、「同法第二条第二項に規定する拾得をした」と読み替えるものとする。 art-3/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-3/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-3/par-1 The provisions of Article 240 of the Civil Code (Act No. 89 of 1896) apply mutatis mutandis to quasi-lost property. In this case, the phrase "found it" in that Article is deemed to be replaced with "made the finding prescribed in Article 2, paragraph (2) of the Lost Property Act". machine translation, not official --- ## Cites - art-2/par-1: 次条 → 遺失物法 第三条 (Article 3), art-3 — https://japanlaw.org/en/lost-property-act/art-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/418AC0000000073/art-3 - art-3/par-1: 民法（明治二十九年法律第八十九号）第二百四十条 → 民法 第二百四十条 (Article 240), art-240 — https://japanlaw.org/en/civil-code/art-240 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-240 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 遺失物法 — the text in force from 2025-06-01 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/418AC0000000073/20250601_504AC0000000068), retrieved 2026-10-11 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — 遺失物法 — its English title as the Ministry of Justice's translation database lists it (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/1640), retrieved 2026-10-11 - claude-sonnet-5-5 — Machine translation, batch lost-property-act-20261011T093710-001, translated 2026-10-11 - This site's parser, version 186 — 遺失物法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-11