The most striking difference between the Kamakura bakufu and the prior warrior government run by the Taira clan was the bakufu's creation of what was called the Monjusho (hereafter referred to as the Hyojosho or "Office of Arbitration"), an organization devoted to hearing and ruling on legal disputes over land ownership; until this office was founded, final authority to own land rested with the side whose military might was greatest and disputes were resolved in a simple way--through force--but the new office substantially reduced such bloody conflicts.
鎌倉幕府がそれ以前の武家政権である平氏政権と最も異なる点は「問注所」（後に評定所）と呼ばれる訴訟受付機関を設置したことで、これまでは地所の支配権をめぐる争いは当事者同士の武力闘争に容易に発展していたものをこれにより実質的に禁止することになった。