# 人事訴訟法 / Personal Status Litigation Act — 第十八条 (Article 18) This is the Markdown twin of https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18. Every law, and how to address a provision: https://japanlaw.org/llms.txt. The same laws as MCP tools (no sign-in): https://japanlaw.org/mcp. - Law: 人事訴訟法 (Personal Status Litigation Act), 平成十五年法律第百九号 - English title "Personal Status Litigation 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: 第十八条 (Article 18)（訴えの変更及び反訴） — address `art-18` - Text in force since: 2026-06-24 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18 - 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. --- ### 第十八条（訴えの変更及び反訴） — (Amending an Action; Counterclaims) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-18 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18 **第一項** 人事訴訟に関する手続においては、民事訴訟法第百四十三条第一項及び第四項、第百四十六条第一項並びに第三百条の規定にかかわらず、第一審又は控訴審の口頭弁論の終結に至るまで、原告は、請求又は請求の原因を変更することができ、被告は、反訴を提起することができる。 art-18/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-1 Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 143, paragraphs (1) and (4) of the Code of Civil Procedure and of Article 146, paragraph (1) and Article 300 of that Code, in personal status litigation proceedings, a plaintiff may amend a claim or cause of action, and a defendant may file a counterclaim, until the conclusion of the oral arguments in the first or second instance. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **第二項** 日本の裁判所が請求の変更による変更後の人事訴訟に係る請求について管轄権を有しない場合には、原告は、変更後の人事訴訟に係る請求が変更前の人事訴訟に係る請求と同一の身分関係についての形成又は存否の確認を目的とするときに限り、前項の規定により、請求を変更することができる。 art-18/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-2 If the Japanese courts would have no jurisdiction over the claim relating to personal status litigation resulting from the amendment of a claim, the plaintiff may amend a claim pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph only if in the resulting claim the plaintiff seeks to change the status of the same familial relationship as the one involved in the pre-amendment claim or seeks a declaratory judgment as to whether that familial relationship exists. Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "If the Japanese courts would have no jurisdiction over the claim in relating to personal status litigation resulting from the amendment of a claim, the plaintiff may amend a claim pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph only if in the resulting claim the plaintiff seeks to change the status of the same familial relationship as the one involved in the pre-amendment claim or seeks a declaratory judgment as to whether that familial relationship exists." — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/5166/tb **第三項** 日本の裁判所が反訴の目的である次の各号に掲げる請求について管轄権を有しない場合には、被告は、それぞれ当該各号に定める場合に限り、第一項の規定による反訴を提起することができる。 art-18/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-3 If the Japanese courts have no jurisdiction over a claim as set forth in one of the following items that is the subject of a counterclaim, the defendant may file a counterclaim under the provisions of paragraph (1) only in the case specified in that item: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System **一** 人事訴訟に係る請求　本訴の目的である人事訴訟に係る請求と同一の身分関係についての形成又は存否の確認を目的とする請求を目的とする場合 art-18/par-3/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-3/item-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-3/item-1 a claim relating to personal status litigation: if the subject of the counterclaim is a claim through which the defendant seeks to change the status of the same familial relationship as the one involved in the claim relating to personal status litigation that is the subject of the principal action or a claim through which the defendant seeks a declaratory judgment as to whether that familial relationship exists; or Ministry of Justice translation with a slip corrected by this site — not the Ministry's text; the Ministry printed: "a claim relating to in personal status litigation: if the subject of the counterclaim is a claim through which the defendant seeks to change the status of the same familial relationship as the one involved in the claim relating to personal status litigation that is the subject of the principal action or a claim through which the defendant seeks a declaratory judgment as to whether that familial relationship exists; or" — https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/5166/tb **二** 人事訴訟に係る請求の原因である事実によって生じた損害の賠償に関する請求　既に日本の裁判所に当該人事訴訟が係属する場合 art-18/par-3/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-3/item-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-3/item-2 a claim for damages arising from facts constituting a cause of action relating to personal status litigation: if the relevant personal status litigation is already pending before a Japanese court. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-18/par-1: 民事訴訟法第百四十三条第一項 → 民事訴訟法 第百四十三条第一項 (Article 143, paragraph (1)), art-143/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-143/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-143/par-1 - art-18/par-1: 第四項 → 民事訴訟法 第百四十三条第四項 (Article 143, paragraph (4)), art-143/par-4 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-143/par-4 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-143/par-4 - art-18/par-1: 第百四十六条第一項 → 民事訴訟法 第百四十六条第一項 (Article 146, paragraph (1)), art-146/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-146/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-146/par-1 - art-18/par-1: 第三百条 → 民事訴訟法 第三百条 (Article 300), art-300 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/code-of-civil-procedure/art-300 · https://japanlaw.org/l/408AC0000000109/art-300 - art-18/par-2: 前項 → 人事訴訟法 第十八条第一項 (Article 18, paragraph (1)), art-18/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-1 - art-18/par-3: 第一項 → 人事訴訟法 第十八条第一項 (Article 18, paragraph (1)), art-18/par-1 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-1 ## Cited by 3 provisions cite this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 人事訴訟法 第十八条第二項（訴えの変更及び反訴） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-2 - 人事訴訟法 第十八条第三項（訴えの変更及び反訴） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/art-18/par-3 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/art-18/par-3 - 人事訴訟法 附則第二条第二項（人事訴訟法の一部改正に伴う経過措置） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/personal-status-litigation-act/suppl-4301-20/art-2/par-2 · https://japanlaw.org/l/415AC0000000109/suppl-4301-20/art-2/par-2 --- ## Sources - claude-opus-5-5 — Corrections to the Ministry of Justice's English of the Personal Status Litigation Act, written 2026-11-03 - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 人事訴訟法 — the text in force from 2026-06-24 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/415AC0000000109/20260624_508AC0000000046), retrieved 2026-11-02 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Personal Status Litigation Act (人事訴訟法), Article 18, paragraph (2) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/5166/tb), retrieved 2026-11-02 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Personal Status Litigation Act (人事訴訟法), Article 18, paragraph (3), item (i) — the Ministry of Justice's English as printed (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/5166/tb), retrieved 2026-11-02 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Personal Status Litigation Act — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/5166/tb), retrieved 2026-11-02 - This site's parser, version 220 — 人事訴訟法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-11-02