Provided is a pattern inspection apparatus including: a charge formation means which forms charge on a surface of a substrate (7) by generating an electron beam from a second electron source (20) which is different from an electron source (1) which generates an electron beam before irradiating an electron beam (3), a current measuring means (34) which measures a value of current flowing in the substrate while the charge is formed on the surface of the substrate by the charge formation means; and an adjustment means (37) which adjusts the charge formed by the charge formation means so that the value of the current measured by the current measuring means is a predetermined target value. Provided is also a pattern inspection method which uses the pattern inspection apparatus. Thus, it is possible to easily set an optimal condition of precharge executed before inspection of a pattern formed by a semiconductor apparatus manufacturing process and automatically inspection whether the precharge is good. Then, the inspection result is fed back to the operation afterward. This prevents lowering of the reliability of the inspection result and always enables a stable inspection.