Freddy, I am concerned that your knowledge of some of the subjects upon which you are quite outspoken, and sometimes even purport to be an expert, may be less scholarly than it seems to be at first glance.
As an example, here is the exchange we had last night about the Celts. I am sorry that you have not taken the time to educate yourself about their advanced civilization, and certainly if you have no interest in them, that is your choice. But I do think it is unfair to make emphatic statements about them which are less than academic.
Anyway, here is my question and your answer:
Are you aware of the advanced civilization of the Celts in Ireland, with equal
rights for women, before the Christians came? Did you know that divorce was
legal there until the 12 century?
I'm aware that the pre-Chritian Celts didn't write. There is no Celtic alphabet. They
didn't leave us legal codes, histories, or religious writings. So I'm curious where you
found this detailed description of Celtic society. I assume it is like most all modern
"witchcraft": it's made up like a child's game.
Now, here is a discussion of Brehon Law and early Celtic writings, taken from the following book:
A SMALLER
SOCIAL HISTORY
of
ANCIENT IRELAND
TREATING OF
The Government, Military System, and Law ;
Religion, Learning, and Art ; Trades, Industries, and Commerce ;
Manners, Customs, and Domestic Life,
of the Ancient Irish People
BY
P.W. JOYCE, M.A., LL.D., T.C.D.; M.I.R.A.
One of the Commissioners for the Publication of the Ancient Laws of Ireland
President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland
with 213 illustrations
SECOND EDITION
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
London, New York, and Bombay
Dublin : M.H. Gill & Son, Ltd.
1908
Chapter IV - The Brehon Laws
1. The Brehons
Law formed a most important factor both in public and private life in ancient Ireland. The native legal system, as
briefly outlined in this chapter, existed in its fullness before the ninth century. It was somewhat disturbed by the
Danish and Anglo-Norman invasions, and still more by the English settlement; but it continued in use till finally
abolished in the beginning of the seventeenth century. In this short chapter I merely attempt a popular sketch of the
main features of the Brehon laws, devoid of technical legal terms.
In Ireland a judge was called a brehon, whence the native Irish law is commonly known as the "Brehon Law": but its
proper designation is F‚nechas, i.e. the law of the F‚ine or F‚ne, or free land-tillers. The brehons had absolutely in
their hands the interpretation of the laws and the application of them to individual cases. They were therefore a very
influential class of men and those attached to chiefs had free lands for their maintenance, which, like the profession
itself, remained in the same family for generations. Those not so attached lived simply on the fees of their profession,
and many eminent brehons became wealthy. The legal rules, as set forth in the Law Books, were commonly very
complicated and mixed up with a variety of' technical terms; and many forms had to be gone through and many
circumstances taken into account, all legally essential: so that no outsider could hope to master their intricacies. The
brehon had to be very careful; for he was himself liable for damages, besides forfeiting his fee, if he delivered a false
or unjust judgement.
To become a brehon a person had to go through a regular, well-defined course of study and training. It would
appear that the same course qualified for any branch of the legal profession, and that once a man had mastered the
course he set up as a brehon or judge proper, a consulting lawyer, an advocate, or a law-agent. In very early times
the brehon was regarded as a mysterious, half-inspired person, and a divine power kept watch over his
pronouncements to punish him for unjust judgements : "When the brehons deviated from the truth, there appeared
blotches upon their cheeks." The great brehon, Morann, son of Carbery Kinncat (king of Ireland in the first century),
wore a s¡n [sheen] or collar round his neck, which tightened when he delivered a false judgement, and expanded
again when he delivered the true one. All this agrees with the whole tenor of Irish literature, whether legendary, legal,
or historical, which shows the great respect the Irish entertained for justice pure and simple according to law, and
their horror of unjust decisions. It was the same at the most ancient period as it was in the beginning of the
seventeenth century, when Sir John Davies -an Englishman- the Irish attorney-general of James I., testified :-"For
there is no nation of people under the sunne that doth love equall and indifferent [i.e. impartial] justice better then the
Irish; or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof, although it bee against themselves so as they may have
the protection and benefit of the law, when uppon just cause they do desire it." But later on the Penal Laws changed
all that, and turned the Irish natural love of justice into hatred and distrust of law, which in many ways continues to
manifest itself to this day.
2. 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).
Of the tracts contained in these volumes, the two largest and most important are the Senchus M¢r [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 M¢r.
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, till the manuscripts we now possess were produced. The existing
manuscript copies of the Senchus M¢r consist
1.The original text, written in a large hand with wide spaces between the lines
2.An introduction to the text:
3.Commentaries on the text, in a smal1er hand
4.Glosses or explanations on words and phrases of the text, in a hand still smaller: commentaries and, glosses
commonly written in the spaces between the lines of text, but often on the margins. Of these the text, as might
be expected, is the most ancient.
Fig 31.
Note: I'm sorry that this did not reproduce when it was copied. If you would like to see it first hand, the url is:
indigo.ie
Facsimile specimen of the Senchus M¢r The four lines of large text are a part of the Senchus M¢r proper, and they are to be read in
the order, second, first, third, fourth. The commentary (i.e. the smaller text) consists of seventeen lines and supposing them to be
numbered from top to bottom they are to be read in this way -Begin at line 8 (which comments on the line of larger text right under
it) then 7, 6, 5; part of 4 and part of 3 (both as far as the curve the rest of 4, the rest of 3; then 2, 1. Resume at 9 and go on in like
manner-sometimes upwards, sometimes downwards-to the end: the reader being guided all through by the context, No glosses
occur on this facsimile.
The laws were written in the oldest dialect of the Irish language, called B‚rla F‚ini [Bairla-faina] which even at the
time was so difficult that persons about to become brehons had to be specially instructed in it. Even the authors of
the Commentaries and Glosses who wrote hundreds of years ago, and were themselves learned brehons, were often
quite at fault in their attempts to explain the archaic text: and their words show that they were fully conscious of the
difficulty. It will then be readily understood that the task of translating these laws was a very difficult one, rendered all
the more so by the number of technical terms and phrases, many of which are to this day obscure, as well as by the
peculiar style, which is very elliptical and abrupt-often incomplete sentences, or mere catch-words of rules not
written down in full, but held in memory by the experts of the time. Another circumstance that greatly adds to the
difficulty of deciphering these mss. is the confused way in which the Commentaries and glosses are written in, mainly
with the object of economising the expensive vellum. The explanatory note under fig. 31 will give some idea of this.
The two great Irish scholars-O'Donovan and O'Curry-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, to the last, not quite sure of the
meaning. 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 is, moreover, imperfect for another reason: it was only a preliminary and
provisional translation, containing many imperfections and errors, to be afterwards corrected ; but the translators did
not live to revise it, and it was printed as they left it.
3. Suitability of the Brehon Laws
The Brehon Code forms a great body of civil, military, and criminal law. It regulates the various ranks of society,
from the king down to the slave, and enumerates their several rights and privileges. There are minute rules for the
management of property, for the several industries - building, brewing, mills, water-courses, fishing-weirs, bees and
honey - for distress or seizure of goods, for tithes, trespass, and evidence. The relations of landlord and tenant, the
fees of professional men - doctors, judges, teachers, builders, artificers, - the mutual duties of father and son, of
foster-parents and foster-children, of master and servant, are all carefully regulated. In that portion corresponding to
what is now known as criminal law, the various offences are minutely distinguished - murder, manslaughter, assaults,
wounding, thefts, and all sorts of wilful damage ; and accidental injuries from flails, sledgehammers, machines, and
weapons of all kinds ; and the amount of compensation is laid down in detail for almost every possible variety of
injury. |
