THE BREHON LAWS

Part One
In this article I would like to introduce the reader to the legal structure
within which the Celtic kinship group operated - the ancient law of the Brehons.
Ireland is extremely unique and privileged to have preserved as part of her
heritage a large body of ancient law tracts, known collectively as 'Fenechas',
the law of the Feine (Freemen), or more commonly, the Brehon Law. These laws are
probably the oldest in Europe; they were in origin the laws of a pastoral people
whose status was measured in the ownership of cattle, and whose legal fines were
assessed in units of 'sets' (one set was half the value of a milk cow). This
ancient legal system was very comprehensive in both its range and technicality
even before the ninth century; there were few areas of life that could not be
encompassed in some way into the great body of the law. The laws were originally
composed in poetical verse and handed down by the Filid. In later times they
were written down and several important law books have been preserved and
translated, among them the Senchus Mor, the Book of Acaill, and the Uraiccecht
Becc (Small Primer). It must be stated, however, that some of the translations
are open to debate, for the original manuscripts were written in an archaic
language which could easily have been misinterpreted. The scholars who were
working on these manuscripts were aware of this fact, but sadly did not have the
opportunity to finish their task before their deaths.
The Brehon Laws were considered by all to be based on sound principles of
justice, so much so that the English settlers of 'The Pale' adopted the Irish
laws themselves. The Brehon Laws governed Ireland for centuries, until they were
finally abolished in the seventeenth century.
The foundation of the Brehon law rested to a large extent on the power of
custom, or customary law, the popular acceptability of the law as being founded
on 'tradition'. With no central governing authority, no organised institutions
of crime prevention, the most powerful deterrent was the threat of sanctions,
and the consequent loss of status within the community. In principle, an
individual's rights and status existed only within the boundaries of his or her
tuath, in accordance with the laws of 'derbhfhine' (four generations of descent
from a common ancestor). Loss of face within your own tuath was considered by
all to be a disgraceful state of affairs; to allow such a situation to continue
was even worse, and so the victim would seek to obtain a settlement of
compensation from the transgressor as soon as possible, to restore order and
balance within the tuath.
The interpretation and enforcement of the law was vested in the hands of a
specialist group of the Druidh caste known as Brithem, or Brehons. The Brehons
underwent a lengthy training, which involved large amounts of traditional
knowledge being committed to memory. The legal rules were very complicated, with
many intricacies. The Brehons themselves were liable for damages if they gave a
false judgement. Moreover, the laws were preserved in an archaic form of Irish
known as 'berla Feine'. This was not a language in common use, which made the
law tracts generally inaccessible to the layman. Hence the Brithem class were a
very influential group, but the power that they wielded did not rest solely on
the matter of legal language. Other aspects of life in tribal /clan societies
should be borne in mind when discussing ancient Celtic institutions, aspects of
life that are no longer present in modern society, but which were of enormous
significance to our ancestors. One example of this is the extent to which the
Brehons were held in awe by the people. They were believed to possess a divine

power which helped them to make true judgements. This divine power also kept
watch over them and meted out punishments for falsity. The ancient Irish held
the principles of Truth and Justice in high esteem.
To fully appreciate the power of the Brehons, we must understand that their role
in the community was much wider in scope than solely as law givers. They were
also responsible for the execution of all public religious rituals and
ceremonies. 'The Law' was not distinguished from the religious and magical
aspects of life. Assemblies for the giving of law judgements were held during
the sacred festival times and were conducted in a formalised, ritualised manner
in accordance with ancient tradition. These early courts of law were usually
held in open places, especially on hills and at the burial site of kings. There
are many such law hills to be found all over Scotland also. On Arran we have
Cnoc na Comhairlie, the Consultation Hill, near Whiting Bay, Cnoc a' Chrochaidh,
the Hill of Hanging (pointing perhaps to some rather gruesome punishments) at
Sliddery, and Cnoc na Ceille, the Hill of Meeting at Dougarie. The assemblies
held in such places were the very linchpin of the Celtic tradition, for they:
"represent both a return to the original unity and the re-creation of order".
(Rees, Celtic Heritage). At these assemblies the foundations of the tradition
were re-laid, involving the re-enactment of its mythological origins. The sacred
power of myth was brought to bear upon matters of judgement. Disputes over land
use were settled according to the mythological divisions of Ireland; sick
maintenance was assessed according to an alleged 'Judgement of Diancecht', the
God of Medicine. All manner of judgements, fines, satires and punishments were
to be found in the myths and legends. The wise king or Brehon had only to search
for parallels, which he would then often embody into his own judgement in the
form of a proverb - the Irish loved this kind of word play and were very skilled
at it. From this we can see that the power of myth, tradition and precedent were
combined together to be woven into the fabric of the legal system, giving it
authority, credibility and sanctity in all situations.
There is one more important aspect of the ancient Celtic legal system that I
would like to discuss in this introductory article. This concerns the status of
the class known as the 'nemed'. The meaning of this Celtic word would seem to be
a description for something holy or sacred; it is also used as a noun to denote
a place of sanctuary. In Irish law it had an additional meaning in that it
signified all persons of free status. It was specifically the franchise of the
nemed that allowed a person participation in the public religious rites. It is
important to note that the franchise of the nemed did not depend on birth.
Certain kinds of craftspeople attained the nemed by virtue of their vocation,
among them being builders of houses, ships and mills, wood carvers, chariot
makers, turners, leatherworkers, fishermen, metal workers and smiths, and
harpers (incidentally, harpers were the only class of musicians who held the
status of nemed).
There were two classes of nemeds - soernemeds (higher) and doernemeds (lower).
The soernemeds included the filid, the professional learning class and in
ancient times the Druidh. The doernemeds were workers of the specific crafts
upon which the nemed was granted. In later times, with the advent of
Christianity, the distinctions became rather more blurred, with the Druid class
becoming relegated to the lower nemed. Curiously enough, the filid retained the
higher nemed. We can perhaps conclude from this that the Church recognised a
threat to the new religion from the Druidh, but not from the filid who merely
recorded it.

Copyright: 1993 Lorraine MacDonald

[First published in Dalriada magazine]