General Irish law

Question 1

What is the earliest survivng MS with irish legal material?

Answer 1

The earliest surviving manuscript with Irish legal material is Rawlinson B 502 which was written in the 1120s.

1120s may seem late, but when you consider that there are barely any Irish manuscripts from pre- this time anyway, its not.

Question 2

the 4 main MS for early irish law from the early period

Answer 2

Ttowards the beginning of the Irish legal tradition there are four important texts. Three are in Old Irish:
–Bretha Nemed Toísech
– the Senchas Már
– the Cain Fuithirbe
and then the the Collectio Canonum Hibernenensis

Question 3

Who wrote these early Irish law texts?

Answer 3

One class was poets (fili), but these were clearly more than poets. He was probably a learned academic with an education in many branches of secular knowledge. But not to say he was divided from religion, as some are known to have been clerics.

Question 4

What do glosses in Irish legal ms generally contain?

Answer 4

• These glosses tend to either clarify the original text (perhaps by illustrating the legal point with an example), cite parallel passages from other texts, giving a detailed ‘commentary’ on a legal principle, or are an etymological gloss.

Question 5

Introduce glosses as a source for law

Answer 5

The significant body of material already extant in the early Irish period means that we have a lot of secondary matter in the form of glosses on two of the OI texts: the Senchas Mar and the Cain F.

Question 6

What do status texts show?

Answer 6

• Status texts show that the legal standing of a person was determined by their position in society, and the measure used for this was lóg n-enech (honour-price) which varied greatly.

Question 7

introduce HIB

Answer 7

This contains mostly citations from scripture, early church fathers, and synods (both Irish and foreign). And it also contains secular regulations which are paralleled in the vernacular law texts.

Question 8

when was the senchas mar written/ compiled?

Answer 8

• towards the begining of the eighth century, perhaps during the time of the Ui Neill
• It seems to be from the north of ireland

– It is possible that this could be one of those things were claims to law goes with claims of political dominance.

Question 9

an issue to bear in mind when thinking about medieval law?

Answer 9

• It is easy to think that there was an overarching legal system for the whole of Ireland, or indeed the Gaelic speaking world, and we will never really know the extent of many of the laws. Because everything was subdivided, we have no real notion of any sense of things happening slightly differently likely.

Question 10

What is bretha Nemed?

Answer 10

Bretha Nemed looks like its from Munster and deals with different things. Is primarily to deal with privileged people, poets and literary production. Much more focused law, much of it composed in verse.

Question 11

Discuss and explain ‘fir’ and what is unusual about it

Answer 11

fir, means truth. This is unusual, as most legal systems aren’t actually interested in the truth.

Question 12

Define tuath

Answer 12

a territorial unit ruled by a king of a tuath, or a ‘ri tuath’

Question 13

What does nemed mean?

Answer 13

‘priveledged person’

Question 14

what is the irish term for honour price?

Answer 14

lóg-n-enech

• as with elsewhere
• this very often opperated as a multiplier

Question 15

How did medieval irish society work?

Answer 15

This society worked on a highly status driven structure and operated on various levels of clientship.
- People farmed animals in turn for some of the profits from these animals.

Question 16

Summary of our main sources for medieval irish law? (there are 4)

Answer 16

• There is a rich corpus of medieval Irish law tracts which date to around the 7th-8th centuries. Although the MS is often later, hte text itself is written in earlier old irish.
• Glosses on these texts dating from the ninth century and later
• Later, often extensive commentary
• Manuscripts copies of these texts, with glosses and commentary preserved from the
  fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.

Question 17

Why did some of the sources end up passsed down to us?

Answer 17

These texts were probably collected more by antiquarians than lawyers. Glosses take on a life of their own,

• • What seems to happen, is that these manuscripts seems to have been copied by legal families, where lawyers were trained in 13th=15th century, these MS very much became the preserve of these families.
• But probably also quite a lot of ecclesiastical influence in the copying of these laws. A lot of these texts kind of reflect ecclesiastical anxiety.

Question 18

Name 3 of the major legal families of Ireland

Answer 18

• -Mac Aodhagáin
• Mac Fhlannchadha
• Ua Deoráin

Question 19

Explain courts in Ireland

Answer 19

We know courts were called airecht, and lots of them took place at an oenach which means fair/ gathering. This often seemed to be the time of event when things would be resolved and there would be courts operating. Lots of Irish issues were probably resolved outside of court though, as cooperating was generally beneficial for both parties.

Question 20

An issue with studying irish law which stems from our sources

Answer 20

• It is with difficulty that we think about the way in which the system actually worked. We occasionally get little bits of case law which can give us a small insight, but one of the most striking things is how little we know about how things actually operated – there is very little case law!. – BUT there a few examples (2)

Question 21

Discuss Cain Adomnain- (i.e. most famous cain)

Answer 21

We know of the law of Adomnán, or the Cain Adomnáin, which was promulgated in 679. This is probably the most famous Cain. This law relates to the rights of non-combatants in times of war.

Question 22

What are cains?

Answer 22

Cains are very often to do with the relationship between people and often have a moral type of aspect to them and have a greater interest in the morality of situations above anything else.

Question 23

Example of case law from Ireland

Answer 23

• The story of Congal Cáech in Bechbretha (Bee Judgements

Question 24

What does cert mean?

Answer 24

• Fairness

Question 25

Key legal Irish concepts:

Answer 25

• Dilged
• Cocertad
• Logad
• Fir
• Cert

Question 26

What is cocertad?

Answer 26

• Means the balancing of one person’s rights against another’s

Question 27

What does logad mean?

Answer 27

conciliation

Question 28

What is the Cáin Lánamna?

Answer 28

law on the relationship between couples

Question 29

Cáin Iarraith

Answer 29

law on the relationship between foster-parent and foster-child

— Link to Fonthill Letter?

Question 30

Judges and advocates in Irish law…

Answer 30

• There were different levels of judges and advocates

Question 31

Levels of judges in irish law (of which there are 4)

Answer 31

A judge of three judgements – i.e. concerning the laity, poets and the church (highest
honour price)
- A judge (brithem)
- A judge in matters concerning the laity and the poets
- A judge capable of giving judgments in matters relating to craftsmen (lowest honour
price)

Question 32

What does the Corpus iuris Hibernici say on the judicial role in Irish law?

Answer 32

“Justice is established on the basis of roscada [metrical texts] and fásaige [maxims] and truthful texts. Entitlement is based on verbal contracts and
acknowledgement”
- and that Justice and entitlement are both founded on the holy