# 民法 / Civil Code — 第九百八十四条 (Article 984) - 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: 第九百八十四条 (Article 984)（外国に在る日本人の遺言の方式） — address `art-984` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-984 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-984 - 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. --- ### 第九百八十四条（外国に在る日本人の遺言の方式） — (Formalities for Wills by Japanese Nationals in a Foreign Country) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-984 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-984 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-984 **第一項** 日本の領事の駐在する地に在る日本人が公正証書又は秘密証書によって遺言をしようとするときは、公証人の職務は、領事が行う。この場合においては、第九百七十条第一項第四号の規定にかかわらず、遺言者及び証人は、同号の印を押すことを要しない。 art-984/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-984/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-984/par-1 If a Japanese national who is in a country where there is a Japanese consulate seeks to make a will in the form of a notarial instrument or sealed and notarized instrument, the duties of the notary are undertaken by the consulate. In this case, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 970, paragraph (1), item (iv), the testator and the witnesses are not required to affix the seal referred to in that item. machine translation, not official --- ## Cites - art-984/par-1: 第九百七十条第一項第四号 → 民法 第九百七十条第一項第四号 (Article 970, paragraph (1), item (iv)), art-970/par-1/item-4 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/art-970/par-1/item-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/art-970/par-1/item-4 ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民法 附則第四条第二項（第一条の規定の施行に伴う経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/civil-code/suppl-5031-37/art-4/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/129AC0000000089/suppl-5031-37/art-4/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 2 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4275/tb), 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 - claude-sonnet-5-5 — Machine translation, batch civil-code-20261011T170941-007, translated 2026-10-12 - This site's parser, version 190 — 民法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-11