# 会社法 / Companies Act — 第百七十八条 (Article 178) - Law: 会社法 (Companies Act), 平成十七年法律第八十六号 - English title "Companies Act": 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: 第百七十八条 (Article 178) — address `art-178` - Text in force since: 2026-08-12 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/companies-act/art-178 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-178 - 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. --- ### 第百七十八条 art-178 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/companies-act/art-178 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-178 **第一項** 株式会社は、自己株式を消却することができる。この場合においては、消却する自己株式の数（種類株式発行会社にあっては、自己株式の種類及び種類ごとの数）を定めなければならない。 art-178/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/companies-act/art-178/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-178/par-1 A stock company may cancel its treasury shares. In these cases, the stock company must determine the number of the treasury shares it intends to cancel (or, for a company with class shares, the classes of the shares and the number of treasury shares for each class). Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 取締役会設置会社においては、前項後段の規定による決定は、取締役会の決議によらなければならない。 art-178/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/companies-act/art-178/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-178/par-2 For a company with board of directors, the determination under the provisions of the second sentence of the preceding paragraph must be made by a resolution at a board of directors meeting. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-178/par-2: 前項 → 会社法 第百七十八条第一項 (Article 178, paragraph (1)), art-178/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/companies-act/art-178/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-178/par-1 ## Cited by 3 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 会社法 第百七十八条第二項 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/companies-act/art-178/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-178/par-2 - 会社法 第四百四十六条第一項第五号（剰余金の額） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/companies-act/art-446/par-1/item-5 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-446/par-1/item-5 - 会社法 第九百七十六条第一項第十一号（過料に処すべき行為） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/companies-act/art-976/par-1/item-11 · https://japanlaw.org/l/417AC0000000086/art-976/par-1/item-11 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 会社法 — the text in force from 2026-08-12 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/417AC0000000086/20260812_508AC0000000064), retrieved 2026-09-17 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Companies Act — Ministry of Justice translation (part 1 of 2) (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/4481/tb), retrieved 2026-09-17 - This site's parser, version 211 — 会社法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-09-17