明代中後期的里甲正役輪役方式是按甲輪差，但明初的制度條文與相 關史料說明，里甲制度最初奉行各甲出一戶輪役的方式或設計理念。 洪武十四年所頒里甲制的確切含義是：每年各甲按丁糧多寡，依次出 一戶充甲首，作為臨時的一甲之首，與現年里長構成一個貧富搭配的 應役單位，每十年按照丁糧變化狀況進行一次嚴密的調整。各甲按丁 糧次序依次出一戶輪役的方式，是明朝在國家控制力強大的背景下參 考南宋舊法、追求公平與效率的產物。隨著里甲差役任務的迅速變 化，輪役方式的重要性下降，在洪武後期第二次編造里甲黃冊時，這 項尚未深入推行全國的方式即開始簡化為按甲輪差。但直到明代中 期，南方依然存留著各甲出一戶輪役的遺跡，體現出里甲制度的原始 設計理念。

The early Ming community-tithing (lijia 里甲) system was designed as a circulation of ten units, each of which consisted of ten families from ten tithings. By the middle and late Ming, however, this changed to a circulation of ten tithings in ten years. When the community-tithing system was established in 1381, the tithing chiefs were alternately appointed from the ten tithings every ten years according to family size and economic position. These tithing chiefs formed a service unit with their corresponding community heads. The origins of the community-tithing system can be traced back to the Southern Song. Along with the change of community-tithing duties, the system was replaced by a circulation of tithings in the late Hongwu period, which continued to exist in some places in southern China through the mid-Ming.