# 生活保護法 / Public Assistance Act — 第一条 (Article 1) - Law: 生活保護法 (Public Assistance Act), 昭和二十五年法律第百四十四号 - English title "Public Assistance 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: 第一条 (Article 1)（この法律の目的） — address `art-1` - Text in force since: 2026-10-01 - URL (the page that opens at this provision): https://japanlaw.org/ja/public-assistance-act/art-1 - Permanent URL (e-Gov law ID, never renamed): https://japanlaw.org/l/325AC0000000144/art-1 - 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. --- ### 第一条（この法律の目的） — (Purpose of This Act) caption: Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System art-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/public-assistance-act/art-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/325AC0000000144/art-1 **第一項** この法律は、日本国憲法第二十五条に規定する理念に基き、国が生活に困窮するすべての国民に対し、その困窮の程度に応じ、必要な保護を行い、その最低限度の生活を保障するとともに、その自立を助長することを目的とする。 art-1/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/ja/public-assistance-act/art-1/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/325AC0000000144/art-1/par-1 The purpose of this Act is for the State to guarantee a minimum standard of living as well as to promote self-support for all citizens who are in living in poverty by providing the necessary public assistance according to the level of poverty, based on the principles prescribed in Article 25 of the Constitution of Japan. Ministry of Justice translation — Japanese Law Translation Database System --- ## Cites - art-1/par-1: 日本国憲法第二十五条 → 日本国憲法 第二十五条 (Article 25), art-25 — https://japanlaw.org/ja/constitution/art-25 · https://japanlaw.org/l/321CONSTITUTION/art-25 ## Cited by 1 provision cites this one. No official source publishes this direction. - 生活保護法 第五条第一項（この法律の解釈及び運用） — https://japanlaw.org/ja/public-assistance-act/art-5/par-1 · https://japanlaw.org/l/325AC0000000144/art-5/par-1 --- ## Sources - e-Gov 法令検索, Digital Agency (デジタル庁) — 生活保護法 — the text in force from 2026-10-01 (https://laws.e-gov.go.jp/law/325AC0000000144/20261001_507AC0000000087), retrieved 2026-10-19 - Japanese Law Translation Database System, Ministry of Justice (法務省) — Public Assistance Act — Ministry of Justice translation (https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/24/tb), retrieved 2026-10-19 - This site's parser, version 210 — 生活保護法 — structure, counts, cross-references and defined terms, computed 2026-10-19