[1] The area of jurisdiction was the rural grietenij, a judicial district that comprised several church villages (similar to a modern-day municipality or gemeente).
[2] Each of the 30 grietmannen and 11 city mayors formed the Friese Landdag, which was founded in 1504 by the Duke of Saxony, and was a central government for Friesland.
[4] When dealing with civil disputes or criminal cases (e.g. theft, property, adultery), the grietman would conduct interviews with the perpetrator, victim, and witnesses.
[5] The grietman needed to have sufficient influence and military power to conduct interviews, order detentions, and enforce penalties and fines when necessary.
[7] Grietmannen no longer had the power to try capital crimes, such as those involving manslaughter or homicide, at the local level.
[5] In these cases, they were only responsible for detaining and questioning suspects of capital crimes and providing relevant information to Leeuwarden for the trial to be held at the Hof van Friesland.
[9] But often a lot of wheeling, dealing and money exchanged hands to secure the votes from the vote-bearing inhabitants.