Open Decision Ledger · Civil procedure & enforcement
Article 161 and the last day before an extended appeal period
Supreme Court, Apr. 10, 2026, 2025Ma9429 (ruling)
Case name: 부당이득금(항소각하결정에대한재항고)
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Where the period for filing the statement of appeal reasons has been extended by one month on a ruling under Article 402-2(2) of the Civil Procedure Act, does Article 161 of the Civil Code apply if the last day of the period before the extension fell on a Saturday or a public holiday?
Holding
No. Once a ruling under Article 402-2(2) of the Civil Procedure Act extends the period, the period changes into the 40 days under Article 402-2(1) added to the extended period, and it expires on the last day of that combined period. The last day before the extension is only a point in the middle of the changed period, so Article 161 of the Civil Code, which makes a period expire on the next day where its last day is a Saturday or a public holiday, does not apply to it.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
한편 항소이유서 제출기간이 연장된 경우 연장 전 제출기간의 말일은 변경된 기간의 중간에 불과하므로, 연장 전 제출기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일이더라도 "기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일에 해당한 때에는 기간은 그 익일로 만료한다."라는 내용의 민법 제161조가 적용되지 않는다.
Unofficial English translation
Meanwhile, where the period for filing the statement of reasons for appeal has been extended, the last day of the period before the extension is merely in the middle of the changed period; therefore, even if the last day of the period before the extension falls on a Saturday or a public holiday, Article 161 of the Civil Act, which provides that "where the last day of a period falls on a Saturday or a public holiday, the period expires on the next day," does not apply.
Disposition
Dismissed Stated in the decision
재항고를 모두 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
The reappeals are all dismissed.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
항소이유서 제출기간은 제402조의2 제1항에서 정한 40일에 연장된 기간을 합산한 기간으로 변경되므로, 항소이유서 제출기간은 위와 같이 합산하여 변경된 기간의 말일로 만료한다.
Unofficial English translation
Since the period for filing the statement of reasons for appeal is changed to the period calculated by adding the extended period to the 40 days provided in paragraph (1) of Article 402-2, the period for filing the statement of reasons for appeal expires on the last day of the period changed as such by that aggregation.
Factors
- 항소이유서 제출기간은 제402조의2 제1항에서 정한 40일에 연장된 기간을 합산한 기간으로 변경되므로
- 연장 전 제출기간의 말일은 변경된 기간의 중간에 불과하므로
- 연장 전 제출기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일이더라도
- 항소인이 그 제출기간(제출기간이 연장된 경우에는 그 연장된 기간을 말한다) 내에 항소이유서를 제출하지 아니한 때에는
Unofficial English translation
• Since the period for filing the statement of reasons for appeal is changed to the period calculated by adding the extended period to the 40 days provided in paragraph (1) of Article 402-2,
• Since the last day of the period before the extension is merely in the middle of the changed period,
• Even if the last day of the period before the extension falls on a Saturday or a public holiday,
• where the appellant fails to file the statement of reasons for appeal within that filing period (in the case where the filing period has been extended, the extended period),
Relation to precedent
States a new standard Read from the decision
연장 전 제출기간의 말일은 변경된 기간의 중간에 불과하므로, 연장 전 제출기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일이더라도
Unofficial English translation
Since the last day of the period before the extension is merely in the middle of the changed period, even if the last day of the period before the extension falls on a Saturday or a public holiday,
Decisions referred to
해당 본문 참조
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
If a ruling extending the period is made only after the 40-day period has already expired, may the period still be extended, and from which date does the one-month extension run?
An amendment to Article 402-2 or Article 402-3 of the Civil Procedure Act, or to Article 161 of the Civil Code, would call for a fresh reading. A later Supreme Court decision on how the extended period is combined with the original 40 days, on the application of Article 161 to the last day of the combined period, or on the grounds for curing a procedural act afterwards, would also require this entry to be read again.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
6 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-24
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 6 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 6 (relation to precedent), axis 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 6 (Relation to precedent): Primary “States a new standard” vs Independent “Cannot be determined”
The primary reading marks the ruling as setting a new standard, while the independent reading marks the precedent relationship as unconfirmed.
연장 전 제출기간의 말일은 변경된 기간의 중간에 불과하므로, 연장 전 제출기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일이더라도Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “If a ruling extending the period is made only after the 40-day period has already expired, may the period still be extended, and from which date does the one-month extension run?” vs Independent “Under what circumstances should an appellate court grant an application to extend the filing period?”
The primary reading asks whether an extension can be granted after the 40-day period has expired and from when the one-month extension runs, while the independent reading asks when the appellate court should grant an extension application.
한편 항소이유서 제출기간이 연장된 경우 연장 전 제출기간의 말일은 변경된 기간의 중간에 불과하므로, 연장 전 제출기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일이더라도 "기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일에 해당한 때에는 기간은 그 익일로 만료한다."라는 내용의 민법 제161조가 적용되지 않는다.Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Suwon District Court, in its ruling of 2 December 2025 (2025Na58292), dismissed the defendant's appeal as inadmissible. The defendant had been served the notice of receipt of the appeal record on 22 September 2025, so the 40-day period ran to 1 November 2025; although the court extended that period by one month on 30 October 2025, the defendant filed the statement of appeal reasons on 3 December 2025, after the extended period had expired on 1 December 2025.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court found no error. It held that the period expired on 1 December 2025, being the 40th day of 1 November 2025 plus the one-month extension, and that 1 November 2025 being a Saturday made no difference because it was only a point in the middle of the changed period. The re-appeal grounds did not show a misreading of the law on calculating the extended period or on the grounds for curing a procedural act afterwards, and the Justices unanimously dismissed the re-appeal.
Distinguishing conditions
- A case in which no ruling extending the period was made under Article 402-2(2), so that the 40-day period itself runs to its own last day.
- A case in which the statement of appeal reasons was filed within the extended period, since Article 402-3(1) requires dismissal only where the appellant did not file within that period.
- A case in which the last day of the combined period falls on a Saturday or a public holiday, because this decision decides only the position of the last day before the extension and does not decide whether Article 161 of the Civil Code applies to the last day of the combined period.
Record verification notes
Fix the date on which the notice of receipt of the appeal record was served, count the 40 days from that date and identify the original last day. Then confirm that a ruling extending the period was actually made, note its date, and add the extended period to the 40 days rather than measuring from the original last day. Only then test the last day of the combined period against Article 161 of the Civil Code.
From the official text
Points at issue
민사소송법 제402조의2 제2항에 따라 항소이유서 제출기간이 연장된 경우, 연장 전 제출기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일에 해당하면 민법 제161조가 적용되는지 여부(소극)
Unofficial English translation
Whether Article 161 of the Civil Act applies where, when the period for filing the statement of reasons for appeal has been extended pursuant to paragraph (2) of Article 402-2 of the Civil Procedure Act, the last day of the period before the extension falls on a Saturday or a public holiday (negative)
Summary of the holding
항소장에 항소이유를 적지 아니한 항소인은 민사소송법 제400조 제3항에 따른 항소기록접수의 통지를 받은 날부터 40일 이내에 항소이유서를 항소법원에 제출하여야 한다(민사소송법 제402조의2 제1항). 항소법원은 항소인의 신청에 따른 결정으로 항소이유서의 제출기간을 1회에 한하여 1개월 연장할 수 있으나(같은 조 제2항), 항소인이 그 제출기간(제출기간이 연장된 경우에는 그 연장된 기간을 말한다) 내에 항소이유서를 제출하지 아니한 때에는 항소법원은 결정으로 항소를 각하하여야 한다(같은 법 제402조의3 제1항 본문). 민사소송법 제402조의2 제2항에 따라 항소이유서 제출기간을 연장하는 결정이 내려졌다면, 항소이유서 제출기간은 제402조의2 제1항에서 정한 40일에 연장된 기간을 합산한 기간으로 변경되므로, 항소이유서 제출기간은 위와 같이 합산하여 변경된 기간의 말일로 만료한다. 한편 항소이유서 제출기간이 연장된 경우 연장 전 제출기간의 말일은 변경된 기간의 중간에 불과하므로, 연장 전 제출기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일이더라도 "기간의 말일이 토요일 또는 공휴일에 해당한 때에는 기간은 그 익일로 만료한다."라는 내용의 민법 제161조가 적용되지 않는다.
Order
재항고를 모두 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
The reappeals are all dismissed.
Provisions referred to
민사소송법 제402조의2, 제402조의3 제1항, 민법 제161조
Read 2026-10-24 · Cross-read 2026-10-24. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
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