Initially, the power of the shugo was limited to the taibon-sankajo-no-kendan, just as it was in the Kamakura period, but in 1346 the Muromachi shogunate gave the shugo the authority to judge the case of the karita-rozeki and the authority of the shisetsu-jungyo to administer the country more stably.
当初、守護の職権については鎌倉期と同じく大犯三ヶ条の検断に限定されていたが、国内統治を一層安定させるため、1346年（貞和2）幕府は刈田狼藉の検断権と使節遵行権を新たに守護の職権へ加えた。