According to the Kushiki-ryo (law on state documentary forms in the Yoro Code), the fixed course of a suit in local districts was a gunji (local magistrate), a kokushi (provincial governor), the Daijokan (Great Council of State) in that order, and in the Capital the Kyoshiki (Capital Bureau), the Gyobusho (Ministry of Justice), the Daijokan in that order (if appeals were not accepted by the Daijokan, people were allowed to report to the emperor), and if people made an appeal against this procedure, they were given 40 strokes of cane ("Toshoritsu").
公式令によれば、訴えの起こす場合には地方においては郡司→国司→太政官、首都においては京職→刑部省→太政官の順序を取ることが定められており（太政官で訴えが受理されなければ、天皇に上奏することが許される）、この手続に反する訴えをした場合には笞刑40の刑に課された（『闘訟律』）。