How Kings Chiefs And People Were Subject To The Brehon Laws
The ancient Irish had a system of laws which grew up gradually among them
from time immemorial. And there were lawyers who made law the business of
their lives, and lived by it. When a lawyer was very distinguished, and
became noted for his knowledge, skill, and justice, he was recognised as
competent to act as a Brehon or judge. A brehon was also a magistrate by
virtue of his position. From this word 'brehon,' the old Irish law is
commonly called the 'Brehon Law.'
We have seen that every king kept in his household distinguished men of
all the learned professions, and paid them well. Among these the brehon
always held a high place; so that a large number of brehons found
employment in this way. But many were unattached, and lived by deciding
cases brought before them; for which they held courts, and were paid fees
by the litigants in each case. On these fees they lived, for they had no
regular salaries. And there were practising lawyers also, not holding the
position of brehon, who made a living by their profession, like lawyers of
our day.
To become a lawyer a person had to go through a regular course of study
and training. The subjects were laid down with great exactness from year
to year of the course; and the time was much longer than that required by
a young man now-a-days to become a barrister. Until the student had put in
the full time, and mastered the whole course, he was not permitted to
practise as a lawyer of any kind--pleader, law-agent, professor of law,
law-adviser, or brehon.
Law was perhaps the most difficult of all the professions to study. For
there were many strange terms hard to understand, all of which had to be
learned, many puzzling forms to be gone through, many circumstances to be
taken into account in all transactions where law was brought in, or where
trials took place in a brehon's court. And if there was the least flaw or
omission, if the smallest error was committed, either by the client or by
his lawyer, it was instantly pounced upon by the opposing pleader, and the
case was likely enough to go against them.
As soon as the Irish had learned the art of writing, they began to write
down their laws in books. There is the best reason to believe that before
the time of St. Patrick the pagan brehons had law-books. But they were
full of paganism--pagan gods, pagan customs, and pagan expressions
everywhere through them; and they would not answer for a Christian people.
So about six years after St. Patrick's arrival, when Christianity had been
pretty widely spread through Ireland, he saw that it was necessary to have
a new code, suitable for the new and pure faith; and he advised Laeghaire
[Laery], the ard-ri, to take steps to have the laws revised and
re-written. The king, seeing this could not be avoided, appointed nine
learned and eminent persons--of whom he himself and St. Patrick were
two--to carry out this important work. At the end of three years, these
nine produced a new code, quite free from any taint of paganism: and this
book got the name of Senchus Mor [Shannahus More], meaning 'Great old
law-book.'
The very book left by St. Patrick and the others has been long lost. But
successive copies were made from time to time, of which some are still
preserved. We have also manuscript copies of several other old Irish
law-books, most of which, as well as the Senchus Mor, have been lately
translated and printed. As the language of those old books is very obscure
and difficult, it was a hard task to translate them; but this was
successfully done by the two great Irish scholars, Dr. John O'Donovan and
Professor Eugene O'Curry. These translations of the Senchus Mor and the
other old law-books, with the Irish texts, and with notes, explanations,
and indexes, form six large printed volumes, which may now be seen in
every important library.
The brehons held courts at regular intervals, where cases were tried. If a
man was wronged by another, he summoned him to one of these courts, and
there were lawyers to plead for both sides, and witnesses were examined,
much in the same way as we see in our present law courts; and after the
brehon had carefully listened to all, he gave his decision. This decision
was given by the brehon alone: there were no juries such as we have now.
All parties, high and low, submitted to the Brehon Laws, and abided by the
judge's decisions; unless the party who lost the suit thought the decision
wrong--which indeed happened but seldom--in which case, he appealed to the
court of a higher brehon. Then, if it was found that the first had given
an unjust decision, he had to return the fee and pay damages, besides more
or less losing character, and lessening his chances of further employment.
So the brehons had to be very careful in trying cases and giving their
decisions.
The highest people in the land, even kings and queens, had to submit to
the laws, exactly the same as common subjects; and if a king was wronged,
he had to appeal to the law, like other people. A couple of hundred years
ago, when the kings of France were, to all intents and purposes, despotic,
and could act much as they pleased towards their subjects, a learned
French writer on law, during a visit to England, happened to pass near the
grounds of one of the palaces, where he observed a notice on the fence of
a field belonging to the king:--"Trespassers will be prosecuted according
to law." Now this gave him great pleasure, as it showed how the king had
to call in the aid of the law to redress a wrong, like any of his
subjects; and it gave him occasion to contrast the condition of England
with that of France, where the king or queen would have made short work of
the trespasser, without any notice or law at all.
But if the same Frenchman had been in Ireland 1,500 years ago, he might
have witnessed what would give him still greater pleasure:--not a mere
notice, but an actual case of trespass on a queen's ground, tried in open
court before his eyes. In those days there reigned at Tara a king named
Mac Con, whose queen had a plot of land, not far from the palace, planted
with glasheen, i.e., the woad-plant, for dyeing blue. In the
neighbourhood there lived a female brewy, or keeper of a hostel for
travellers, who had flocks and herds like all other brewys. One night a
flock of sheep belonging to her broke into the queen's grounds, and ate up
or destroyed the whole crop of glasheen; whereupon the queen summoned her
for damages.
In due course the case came before the king (for the queen would not
appear before an ordinary brehon), and on hearing the evidence he decided
that the sheep should be forfeit to the queen to pay for the crop. Now,
although the glasheen was an expensive and valuable crop, the sheep were
worth a great deal more; and the people were enraged at this unjust
sentence; but they dared not speak out, for Mac Con was a usurper and a
tyrant.
Among the people who dwelt in Tara at this time was a boy, a handsome,
noble-looking young fellow, whom the people all knew by the name of
Cormac. But no one in the least suspected that he was in reality a prince,
the son of the last monarch, Art the Solitary, who had been slain in
battle by the usurper, Mac Con. He was wise and silent, and carefully
concealed from all who he was; for he well knew that if he was discovered
the king would be sure to kill him.
While the trial was going on he stood behind the crowd listening quietly;
and being by nature noble and just-minded, even from his youth up, he
could not contain himself when he heard the king's unfair and oppressive
sentence; and he cried out amid the dead silence:--"That is an unjust
judgment! Let the fleeces be given up for the glasheen--the sheep-crop for
the land-crop--for both will grow again!"
The king was astonished and enraged, and became still more so when the
people exclaimed with one voice:--"That is a true judgment, and he who has
pronounced it is surely the son of a king!"
In this manner the people, to their great joy, discovered who Cormac was.
How he managed to escape the vengeance of the king we are not told; but
escape he did; and after a time the usurper was expelled from Tara, and
Cormac was put in his place. To this day Cormac Mac Art is celebrated in
Irish records as a skilful lawyer and writer on law, and as the wisest and
most illustrious of all the ancient Irish kings.[1]
More
-
How Ireland Became The Most Learned Country In Europe
In old pagan times, long before the arrival of St. Patrick, there were schools in Ireland taught by druids. And when at last Christianity came, and was spreading rapidly over the land, those old schools were still held on; but they were no longer ... How Irish Handicraftsmen Excelled In Their Work
All the chief materials for the work of the various crafts were produced at home. Of wood there was no stint: and there were mines of copper, iron, lead, and possibly of tin, which were worked with intelligence and success. From the most remote... How Irish Missionaries And Scholars Spread Religion And Learning In Foreign Countries
Towards the end of the sixth century the great body of the Irish were Christians, so that the holy men of Ireland were able to turn their attention to the conversion of other people. Then arose an extraordinary zeal for spreading religion and lear... How Kings Chiefs And People Were Subject To The Brehon Laws
The ancient Irish had a system of laws which grew up gradually among them from time immemorial. And there were lawyers who made law the business of their lives, and lived by it. When a lawyer was very distinguished, and became noted for his knowle... How The Ancient Irish Excelled In Art
The old Irish people became wonderfully skilful in some branches of Art; and many specimens of their handiwork still remain--preserved through the wreck of ages--which exceed in beauty of design and in perfection of execution all works of the kind... How The Ancient Irish Excelled In Music
From the very earliest ages Irish musicians were celebrated for their skill, not only in their own country but all over Europe. Our native literature, whether referring to pagan or Christian times, is full of references to music and to skilful mus... How The Ancient Irish Lived As Pagans
When Ireland was pagan the people were taught their religion, such as it was, by Druids. These druids were the only learned men of the time, and they had in their hands all the learned professions--they were not only druids, but judges, prophets, ... How The Ancient Irish People Were Governed By Their Kings And Chiefs
There were in Ireland, from times beyond the reach of history, kings, who were of various grades according to the extent of the country or district they ruled over. The highest of all was the king of Ireland, who lived in the royal palace at Tara.... How The Ancient Irish Physicians Were Skilled In Medicine
Among most nations of old times there were great leeches or physicians, who were considered so skilful that the people believed they could cure wounds and ailments as if by magic. In some countries they became gods, as among the Greeks. The anc... How The Ancient Irish Wrote Down All Their Literature And How Books Increased And Multiplied
Printing was not invented till the fifteenth century, and before that time all books had of course to be written by hand. According to our native records the art of writing was known to the pagan Irish, and the druids had books on law and other ... How The Character Of The Old Irish People Showed Itself In Various Circumstances And On Various Occasions
Some of the modes of salutation and of showing respect practised by the ancient Irish indicate much gentleness and refinement of feeling. When a distinguished visitor arrived it was usual to stand up as a mark of respect. Giving a kiss, or more ge... How The Irish Derived Amusement And Instruction From Historical And Romantic Tales
From the earliest date, the Irish people, like those of other countries, had Stories, which, before the introduction of the art of writing, were transmitted orally, and modified, improved, and enlarged as time went on, by successive shanachies, or... How The Irish People Lived As Christians
It is not our business here to tell how the Irish were converted to Christianity; for this has been already related in our Histories of Ireland. Whether St. Patrick was born in Gaul or in Scotland, we know at any rate that he brought with him to I... How The Irish Scholars Compiled Their Annals
Among the various classes of persons who devoted themselves to Literature in ancient Ireland, there were special Annalists, who made it their business to record, with the utmost accuracy, all remarkable events simply and briefly, year by year. The... How The Irish Travelled On Land And Water
That the country was well provided with roads we know from our ancient literature, and from the general use of chariots. They were not indeed anything like our present hard, smooth roads, but constructed according to the knowledge and needs of the... How The People Dressed
An oval face, broad above and narrow below, golden hair, fair skin, white, delicate, and well-formed hands with slender tapering fingers: these were considered as marking the type of beauty and of high family descent; they were the Marks of Aristo... How The People Held Great Conventions And Fairs And How They Amused Themselves
Public assemblies of several kinds and for various purposes were held all through Ireland; they were considered very important, and were looked forward to on the several occasions with great interest. Affairs of various kinds, some affecting the w... How The Warlike Old Irish Conquered Foreign Lands
From the remotest times the Irish had a genius for war and a love of fighting; and if it fell within the scope of this narrative, it would be easy to show that these features in our character have come down to the present day. For good or for bad,... How They Ate Drank Feasted And Entertained
Dinner, the principal meal of the day, was taken late in the afternoon; and there was commonly a light repast or luncheon, called 'Middle-meal,' between breakfast and dinner. It was the custom to have better food on Sundays and church festivals th... How They Built And Arranged Their Houses
Before the introduction of Christianity, buildings of every kind in Ireland were generally round or oval. The quadrangular shape, which was used in the churches in the time of St. Patrick, came very slowly into use; and round structures finally di... How They Fenced In And Tilled Their Land
Ever since that remote time when legend and history begin to give us glimpses of the occupations of the inhabitants of this country, we find them engaged in Agriculture and Pasturage. For both of these purposes open land was necessary; and accordi... How They Prepared And Made Up Clothing Materials
The wool was taken from the sheep with a shears having two blades and two handles, much the same as our present hedge-shears. After the shearing the whole work up to the finished cloth was done by women, except fulling, which was regarded as men's...