# 民法 / Civil Code — 第百八十六条 (Article 186)

- Law: 民法 (Civil Code), 明治二十九年法律第八十九号
- English title "Civil 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: 第百八十六条 (Article 186)（占有の態様等に関する推定） — address `art-186`
- Text in force since: 2026-06-24
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-186
- Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-186
- 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.

---

### 第百八十六条（占有の態様等に関する推定） — (Presumption Regarding Nature of Possession)
<sup>caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>
<sup>art-186 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-186 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-186</sup>

    **第一項**  占有者は、所有の意思をもって、善意で、平穏に、かつ、公然と占有をするものと推定する。
    <sup>art-186/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-186/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-186/par-1</sup>
    A possessor is presumed to possess a thing with the intention to own, in good faith peacefully and openly.
    <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

    **第二項**  前後の両時点において占有をした証拠があるときは、占有は、その間継続したものと推定する。
    <sup>art-186/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-186/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-186/par-2</sup>
    If there is evidence of possession at two different points in time, it is presumed that possession continued during that interval.
    <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

---

## Sources

- e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 民法 — the text in force from 2026-06-24 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/129AC0000000089/20260624_508AC0000000045), retrieved 2026-10-11
- Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Civil Code — Ministry of Justice translation (part 1 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4848/tb), retrieved 2026-10-11
- This site's parser, version 190 — 民法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-11