# 民事訴訟法 / Code of Civil Procedure — 第二百四条 (Article 204) - 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: 第二百四条 (Article 204)（映像等の送受信による通話の方法による尋問） — address `art-204` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-204 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-204 - 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. --- ### 第二百四条（映像等の送受信による通話の方法による尋問） — (Examinations Based on Communication Using Audiovisual Transmissions) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-204 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-204 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-204 **第一項** 裁判所は、次に掲げる場合であって、相当と認めるときは、最高裁判所規則で定めるところにより、映像と音声の送受信により相手の状態を相互に認識しながら通話をすることができる方法によって、証人の尋問をすることができる。 art-204/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-204/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-204/par-1 In any of the cases stated in the following items and if the court finds it to be appropriate, it may examine a witness, as provided by the Rules of the Supreme Court, using a means that enables persons to communicate with one another through audio and visual transmissions while gaining an awareness of one another's situation: machine translation, not official **一** 証人の住所、年齢又は心身の状態その他の事情により、証人が受訴裁判所に出頭することが困難であると認める場合 art-204/par-1/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-204/par-1/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-204/par-1/item-1 if the court determines that it would be difficult for the witness to appear before the court in charge of the case due to the witness' domicile, age, mental or physical state, or other such circumstances; Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **二** 事案の性質、証人の年齢又は心身の状態、証人と当事者本人又はその法定代理人との関係その他の事情により、証人が裁判長及び当事者が証人を尋問するために在席する場所において陳述するときは圧迫を受け精神の平穏を著しく害されるおそれがあると認める場合 art-204/par-1/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-204/par-1/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-204/par-1/item-2 if the court determines that, due to the nature of the case, the witness' age or mental or physical state, the relationship between the witness and the party in question or their legal representative, or other such circumstances, the pressure that the witness would incur if they were to give their statement from the location where the presiding judge and the parties had come to examine them would likely seriously disrupt their mental balance; or Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **三** 当事者に異議がない場合 art-204/par-1/item-3 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-204/par-1/item-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-204/par-1/item-3 if neither party has any objection. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System ## Cited by 2 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 民事訴訟法 第二百三条の三第一項（遮へいの措置） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-203-3/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-203-3/par-1 - 民事訴訟法 第二百十条第一項（証人尋問の規定の準用） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-210/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-210/par-1 --- ## 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 - claude-sonnet-5-5 — Machine translation, batch code-of-civil-procedure-20261017T235501-001, translated 2026-10-18 - This site's parser, version 209 — 民事訴訟法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-17