# 民法 / Civil Code — 第六百九十七条 (Article 697)

- 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: 第六百九十七条 (Article 697)（事務管理） — address `art-697`
- Text in force since: 2026-06-24
- URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-697
- Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-697
- 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.

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### 第六百九十七条（事務管理） — (Benevolent Intervention in Another's Affairs)
<sup>caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>
<sup>art-697 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-697 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-697</sup>

  **第一項**  義務なく他人のために事務の管理を始めた者（以下この章において「管理者」という。）は、その事務の性質に従い、最も本人の利益に適合する方法によって、その事務の管理（以下「事務管理」という。）をしなければならない。
  <sup>art-697/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-697/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-697/par-1</sup>
  A person that has begun to manage affairs for another person without being obligated to do so (in this Chapter referred to as a "manager" below) must manage that affairs, in accordance with the nature of the affairs, in the way that best suits the interests of the principal (referred to as "benevolent intervention in another's affairs" below).
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

  **第二項**  管理者は、本人の意思を知っているとき、又はこれを推知することができるときは、その意思に従って事務管理をしなければならない。
  <sup>art-697/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-697/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-697/par-2</sup>
  A manager must engage in benevolent intervention in another's affairs in accordance with the intentions of the principal if the manager knows, or is able to conjecture that intention.
  <sup>Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System</sup>

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## 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
