The Red Brick Times

  Friday, July 08, 2005

The Brehon Laws, (also see Triskelle- The Brehon Laws) dating from the pre-Christian era, were the legal system for the Celtic people of Ireland. Since the Irish were neither conquered nor controlled by the Romans, the laws continued in force until the English finally suppressed them in the early 17th Century, AD. Accurately transmitted orally for a thousand years, they were first inscribed when the Irish written language was developed. The Brehon ("lawgivers") were socially equal to kings, poets and historians, as they were the keepers of the function and operation of their society.

The Brehon laws, in their complexity and scope, are similar to Talmudic law, since they likewise grew over centuries as need and added interpretations evolved them. A few excerpts may illustrate:

Law: "The smith must rouse all sleeping customers before he puts the iron in the fire."
commentary: "This is to guard against injuries by sparks."
addendum: "Those who fall asleep again will receive no compensation for injuries."

Law: "The harpist is the only musician who is of noble standing."
addendum: "Flute-players, trumpeters, and timpanists, as well as jugglers, conjurers and equestrians who stand on the backs of horses at fairs, have no status of their own in the community, only that of the noble chieftain to whom they are attached."

Law: "The husband-to-be shall pay a bride price of land, cattle, horses, gold or silver to the father of the bride."
addendum: "Husband and wife retain individual rights to all the land, flocks and household goods each brings to the marriage."

Law: "February first is the day on which husband or wife may decide to walk away from the marriage."

So you see, it puts the responsibility on the individual for deciding what to do and how to act. Couples are partners in marriage, with equal decision-making rights. The Brehon laws afforded women equal status with men in many things. Women were poets, chieftans, queens, warriors, poets, lawgivers, land and business owners. Ironically, the Brehon laws were squelched by an English queen - Elizabeth I. Women henceforth were afforded the status of chattel, a situation that has survived, socially and legally, into our lifetimes. But what can one expect? The English laws supplanted the Brehon Laws only 400 years ago. The Brehon Laws were developed and applied for 1700 years. True enlightenment takes time.

The Senchus Mor and other Books of Law:

The brehons had collections of laws in volumes or tracts, all in the Irish language, by which they regulated their judgements, and which those of them who kept law-schools expounded to their scholars ; each tract treating of one subject or one group of subjects.

Many of these have been preserved, and of late years the most important have been published, with translations, forming five printed volumes (with a sixth consisting of a valuable Glossary to the preceding five). In 2000 these books: "Ireland Ancient Laws of Ireland. 6 Vols. Reprint of the 1865-1901 edition" were re-issued. Available from The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. , antiquarian booksellers in New Jersey.

Of the tracts contained in these volumes, the two largest and most important are the Senchus Mór [Shanahus More] and the Book of Acaill [Ack'ill].

In the ancient Introduction to the Senchus Mor the following account is given of its original compilation: In the year 438 A.D. a collection of the pagan laws was made at the request of St. Patrick; and Laegaire [Laery] King of Ireland, appointed a committee of nine learned and eminent persons, including himself and St. Patrick, to revise them. At the end of three years these nine produced a new code, from which everything that clashed with the Christian doctrine had been carefully excluded. This was the Senchus Mór.

The very book left by St. Patrick and the others has been long lost. Successive copies were made from time to time with commentaries and explanations appended, until the surviving manuscripts were produced. The existing manuscript copies of the Senchus Mór consist of the original text, written in a large hand with wide spaces between the lines.
The pages also have:

Of these the text is the most ancient.

The two great Irish scholars-O'Donovan and O'Curry (working in the 1850's), who translated the laws included in the five printed volumes, were able to do so only after a life-long study ; and in numerous instances were not sure of the meanings. As they had to retain the legal terms and the elliptical style, even the translation is hard enough to understand, and is often unintelligible. It was only a preliminary translation with many imperfections and errors, but the translators did not live long enough to revise it. So it was printed as they left it.

Posted 9:38 AM by Andy (0) comments

       Comments:
Home