# 民法 / Civil Code — 第五百三十八条 (Article 538) - 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: 第五百三十八条 (Article 538)（第三者の権利の確定） — address `art-538` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-538 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-538 - 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. --- ### 第五百三十八条（第三者の権利の確定） — (Determination of Rights of the Third Party) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-538 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-538 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-538 **第一項** 前条の規定により第三者の権利が発生した後は、当事者は、これを変更し、又は消滅させることができない。 art-538/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-538/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-538/par-1 After rights of the third party have accrued pursuant to the provisions of the preceding Article, the parties may not modify or extinguish those rights. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 前条の規定により第三者の権利が発生した後に、債務者がその第三者に対する債務を履行しない場合には、同条第一項の契約の相手方は、その第三者の承諾を得なければ、契約を解除することができない。 art-538/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-538/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-538/par-2 If, after rights of the third party accrue pursuant to the provisions of the preceding Article, the obligor does not perform the obligation to the third party, the other party to the contract referred to in paragraph (1) of that Article may not cancel the contract without the consent of the third party. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-538/par-1: 前条 → 民法 第五百三十七条 (Article 537), art-537 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-537 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-537 - art-538/par-2: 前条 → 民法 第五百三十七条 (Article 537), art-537 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-537 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-537 - art-538/par-2: 同条第一項 → 民法 第五百三十七条第一項 (Article 537, paragraph (1)), art-537/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-537/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-537/par-1 ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民法 附則第三十条第二項（契約の効力に関する経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/suppl-4291-44/art-30/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/suppl-4291-44/art-30/par-2 --- ## 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