Originally, the bukeho was administered by samurai themselves in order to discipline samurai groups, which then developed as a set of codes that function separately from the kugeho (laws issued by the imperial court) and the honjoho (laws issued by proprietors or guarantors of manor).
元は武士団の統制などを目的として武士の間で成立した慣習法として成立、公家法・本所法に対するものとして発展した。