Initially, karita or karihata related disputes were handled as shomu-sata (civil trials dealing with land-related issues), but the number of karita and karihata acts increased with the times, and around the late thirteenth century, such karita or karihata related disputes began to be called 'rozeki' with the implication of illegal acts, that is, karita-rozeki, and the handling of such disputes was separated from ordinary shomu-sata.
刈田・刈畠行為をめぐる紛争は当初、所務沙汰（不動産に係る民事事件）として扱われていたが、時代が下るにつれ、刈田・刈畠行為が増加していくと、13世紀後期ごろには違法行為のニュアンスを含む「狼藉」、すなわち刈田狼藉と呼ばれるようになり、通常の所務沙汰とは別個の取扱いがなされ始めた。