한국고대사회에서 중앙과 지방은 중앙집권화가 이루어지고 국왕의 거주지가 王都가 되면서 생겨났다. 지방이 형성된 이후 지방 사회는 점차 분화되어갔다. 이 과정에서 생겨난 것이 「울진 봉평리신라비」에 보이는 奴人村이다. 노인은 奴와 같은 존재로서 신분적으로 비자유민이었으며 사회적으로 천시되는 존재였다. 따라서 노인촌은 사회적으로 천시된 집단이라 할 수 있다. 노인촌 생성의 배경은 懲罰이 주된 원인이었다. 반란을 일으켜 징벌로서 다른 지역으로 옮겨간 徙民 집단과 포로로 잡혀 일정한 곳에 거주하게 된 집단은 노인촌이 될 가능성이 높았다. 이외에 기근 등으로 다른 지역으로 옮겨간 집단의 경우도 제대로 안착하지 못하면 노인촌으로 전락되어 갔다. 노인촌은 사회적으로 천시되는 힘든 일들을 맡았기 때문에 그 役은 매우 고달팠다. 그렇지만 노인촌은 지방행정구역의 한 부분을 이루고 있었다. 그래서 노인촌은 그 출신자가 큰 공을 세웠을 경우 공로에 대한 포상으로 일반촌으로 전환되기도 하였다. 이 노인촌은 奴人法에 의해 관리되고 운영되었다.

As the Korean ancient society was centralized and the residence of the King became the royal capital (王都), the central and local regions were created. Since the establishment of the local regions, the local societies started to be fragmented. During the process of division, the slave villages (奴人村) were formed, which were described on the Bongpyeong Silla Stele in Uljin (蔚珍 鳳坪里新羅碑). Slaves were non-freemen in terms of the social status, who were in the same status of servants, and socially disregarded. Therefore, the slave villages could be regarded as groups that were socially treated with contempt. The slave villages were formed mainly by the collective punishment (懲罰) for the mistakes made by the individuals living in a certain region or the people in the region. Therefore, the Samin (徙民) group who moved to other regions as a punishment for raising a riot and the groups who settled in a certain region after being held captive were likely to form slave villages. The groups who moved to other regions escaping from famine or diseases were fallen into the members of the slave villages if they failed to settle in. Since the slave villages were in charge of the socially disregarded arduous works, the jobs were extremely demanding. However, the slave villages formed a part of the local administrative district although they were treated with contempt. Therefore, if one of the members of a slave village made a huge contribution to the society, the village was leveled up to the regular village as a reward. These slave villages were managed and operated under the slave act.