It was a tradition from the preceding era that lords or a Shugo and a Jito (military governor and estate steward) who were delegated from the lords, exercised the right to judge criminal cases even against cases within communities, but with the increased autonomy, communities rejected and excluded the lord's intervention into trials and started to conduct Jikendan themselves.
惣内部の事案といえども、本来ならば、領主又はその委任を受けた守護・地頭が検断権を行使するのが、前代までの慣習であったが、惣村などの自治性の高い村落は、領主の検断介入を拒否・排除し、自検断を行うようになっていった。