Designations of both shizoku and heimin indicated family lines without any legal privilege, since the edict No. 29 of Dajokan (the Grand Council of State) of May 1872 had ordained that 'any family of sotsu class (another family rank used before Meiji Restoration) which had continued two or more generations were transferred to shizoku class and other sotsu families within one generation were reclassified to heimin.'
士族、平民の称は、明治5年5月太政官布告第29号に「二代以上ノ卒ヲ士族ニ加ヘテ一代抱卒ヲ平民ニ復ス」とあり、両者はただその家系をしめす名称の別にとどまり、なんら法律上の特権などなかった。