# 民法 / Civil Code — 第四百七十八条 (Article 478) - 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: 第四百七十八条 (Article 478)（受領権者としての外観を有する者に対する弁済） — address `art-478` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-478 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-478 - 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. --- ### 第四百七十八条（受領権者としての外観を有する者に対する弁済） — (Performance to Person That Appears to Be Authorized to Accept) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-478 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-478 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-478 **第一項** 受領権者（債権者及び法令の規定又は当事者の意思表示によって弁済を受領する権限を付与された第三者をいう。以下同じ。）以外の者であって取引上の社会通念に照らして受領権者としての外観を有するものに対してした弁済は、その弁済をした者が善意であり、かつ、過失がなかったときに限り、その効力を有する。 art-478/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-478/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-478/par-1 Performance made to a person that does not constitute a person authorized to accept the performance (meaning the obligee or a third party authorized to accept performance based on the provisions of laws and regulations or the manifestation of intention of the parties; the same applies below) but that appears to be the person authorized to accept the performance in light of common sense trading practices is effective only if the person effecting performance was acting in good faith and without negligence. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民法 第四百七十九条第一項（受領権者以外の者に対する弁済） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-479/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-479/par-1 --- ## 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