Before WWII, Kiyonori KONAKAMURA advanced a theory that Kanshoku and Shokusei were sharply distinguished from each other based on the moral sense such that the duties decided by the emperor were called 'Kanshoku' and the duties decided by bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) and retainers of the emperor without permission were called 'Shokusei,' which was criticized by Masajiro TAKIKAWA and others after the war.
戦前において、小中村清矩が、天皇が定めた役職を「官職」、幕府など臣下がみだりに定めた役職を「職制」と呼んで、大義名分に基づいて峻別したと唱えたが、戦後に瀧川政次郎らから批判された。