# 民法 / Civil Code — 第七百二十条 (Article 720) - 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: 第七百二十条 (Article 720)（正当防衛及び緊急避難） — address `art-720` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-720 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-720 - 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. --- ### 第七百二十条（正当防衛及び緊急避難） — (Self-Defense and Necessity) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-720 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-720 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-720 **第一項** 他人の不法行為に対し、自己又は第三者の権利又は法律上保護される利益を防衛するため、やむを得ず加害行為をした者は、損害賠償の責任を負わない。ただし、被害者から不法行為をした者に対する損害賠償の請求を妨げない。 art-720/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-720/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-720/par-1 A person who is compelled to commit a harmful act to protect their own or third party's rights or legally protected interests in response to another person's tortious act is not liable for damages; provided, however, that this does not preclude a victim from filing a claim for damages against the person that committed the tort. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 前項の規定は、他人の物から生じた急迫の危難を避けるためその物を損傷した場合について準用する。 art-720/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-720/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-720/par-2 The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply mutatis mutandis if the person in question damages a thing belonging to another person in order to avert an imminent danger arising from that thing. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-720/par-2: 前項 → 民法 第七百二十条第一項 (Article 720, paragraph (1)), art-720/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-720/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-720/par-1 ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民法 第七百二十条第二項（正当防衛及び緊急避難） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-720/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-720/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