# 民事訴訟法 / Code of Civil Procedure — 第百三十八条 (Article 138) - Law: 民事訴訟法 (Code of Civil Procedure), 平成八年法律第百九号 - English title "Code of Civil Procedure": 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: 第百三十八条 (Article 138)（訴状の送達） — address `art-138` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-138 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-138 - 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. --- ### 第百三十八条（訴状の送達） — (Service of a Complaint) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-138 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-138 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-138 **第一項** 訴状は、被告に送達しなければならない。 art-138/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-138/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-138/par-1 A complaint must be served on the defendant. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 第百三十七条の規定は、訴状の送達をすることができない場合（訴状の送達に必要な費用を予納しない場合を含む。）について準用する。 art-138/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-138/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-138/par-2 The provisions of Article 137 apply mutatis mutandis if it is not possible to serve the complaint (including if the expenses necessary for serving the complaint are not prepaid). Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-138/par-2: 第百三十七条 → 民事訴訟法 第百三十七条 (Article 137), art-137 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-137 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-137 ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 労働審判法 第二十二条第三項（訴え提起の擬制） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/labor-tribunal-act/art-22/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/416AC0000000045/art-22/par-3 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 民事訴訟法 — the text in force from 2026-06-24 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/408AC0000000109/20260624_508AC0000000046), retrieved 2026-10-17 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Code of Civil Procedure — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4797/tb), retrieved 2026-10-17 - This site's parser, version 209 — 民事訴訟法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-17