It was widely used as a method which enabled people to obtain agreements from both claimants without the exercise of detentions or tortures at "the will of the gods," but its use was limited only to the cases in which the truth could not be ascertained even after the thorough investigation of evidence such as witnesses or documents collected from the both parties.
強制的な拘束や拷問などを行わずに「神の意思」の名のもとで当事者の合意を得られる方法として広く行われたが、あくまでも双方の証人・証文などの証拠類を揃えて吟味した結果でも事実の成否が確定できない場合などに限定されていた。