The
Brehon Laws
Law was
important in public and private life in ancient Ireland and the native
legal system was in existence before the ninth century. The Danish,
Anglo-Normans and English managed to disturb the native laws somewhat,
but the Brehon Laws continued to be used till fully abolished in the
seventeenth century.
In Ireland
a judge was called a 'brehon' and so the native Irish law is known as
the "Brehon Law": but its proper designation is Fénechas
i.e. the law of the Féine or Féne, or free land-tillers.
In the
very early days every file or poet was also a brehon or judge and it
is believed that the laws were written in verse. In later years then
become a brehon a person had to go through a regular, well-defined course
of study or training. A man who had been through this could set up as
a brehon or a judge proper, a consulting lawyer, an advocate or a law-agent.
A brehon also qualified as a shanachie or historian and the profession
was held by a family through generations.
In very
early times the brehon was regarded as a mysterious half-inspired person,
and he could not deviate from justice. "When the brehons deviated
from the truth of nature there appeared blotches upon their cheeks."
The brehons
were a very influential class of men. Some were attached to chiefs and
had free lands for their maintenance, which, like the profession itself,
remained in the family for generations. Those not so attached lived
simply on the fees of their profession and many eminent brehons became
wealthy. The brehon's fee (fola) was one twelfth, of the property in
dispute, or of the fine in the case of an action for damages. He had
to be very careful because he was accountable for his own mistakes.
The legal
rules 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 brehons had the absolute interpretation of the laws in their hands.
These law collections were all written in the oldest Irish dialect called
the Bérla Feini, and this was so difficult that even some of
those destined to become brehons had to be specially instructed in the
language.
O'Donovan
and Curry, two Irish scholars translated the laws in 5 printed volumes
and it took them a life time to do this. The translation is not perfect.
From 'A
Social History of Ancient Ireland', P. W. Joyce, Vol, I, 1913:
The Brehon
Code formed a great body of civil, military and criminal law. It regulated
the various ranks of society, from the king down to the slave, and it
enumerated their several rights and privileges. It was was treason for
English settlers to use the Brehon Code. English settlers living outside
the Pale abandoned their own law and adopted the Brehon Code, to which
they became quite as much attached to it as the Irish themselves, this
included those of all classes. The Anglo-Irish lords of those times
commonly kept brehons at their service in the same way as the native
Irish chiefs. Even the Butlers, who of all the great Anglo-Irish families
were least inclined to imitate the Irish adopted this Irish custom.
