According to Brehon's concepts - how the ancient Irish lived
One of the first Brehon law schools - Redwood Castle
There are many ideas on the Internet about Brehon's Laws and how advanced they were, although in my opinion only some of them can be called that way. The system was based on compensation, unlike our modern prison system. That is, instead of imprisonment or exile for your crime, you simply had to make reparations. And all this depended on your social status and rank.
Medieval Ireland was far from the egalitarian utopian society that can be found on English-language sites. The society was hierarchical and unequal. The laws clearly reflect this and show that rank was important. Therefore, a crime against a person of higher rank carries greater punishment than the same attack against a person of lower rank. Local law was never the same as Roman law, where all citizens were equal.
Who are the Brehons?
The laws were spread by the Brehons - ancient Irish traveling judges who were a privileged class. Their task was to preserve and interpret laws. The first brekhons appeared back in the 3rd – 4th centuries. n. e., and the first set of laws dates back to approximately the 7th century. It was then that judges began to write them down in volumes and treatises, which later became the basis of the legislation of many countries.
Brehons were wise people in ancient Ireland, people came to them to resolve disputes between family members. Sometimes kings turned to them as advisers on a controversial issue. Some judges lived in a certain clan and decided only its cases. The Brehon profession was largely inherited. I found information that you had to study for about 20 years to become a quality judge. Therefore, they had a great responsibility. If the brehon made a wrong or unfair verdict, he had to compensate for the damage caused by his decision.
General view
We can glean many details of ancient Irish law from the book “The Lost Laws of Ireland” by Katherine Duggan.
"The laws reveal the culture in which modern concepts such as equality, social mobility, negligence, impartial witnesses, fair and open trials, and women's rights were developed."
But a lot of work in interpreting and bringing to us the ancient Irish code was carried out by scientists O'Curry and O'Donovan. The first, having spent years at Trinity College Dublin, the Royal Irish Academy, the British Museum, Oxford, rewrote 8 volumes of ancient laws, and his colleague - 9 volumes. But this is only part of Brehon’s laws, because in the same libraries there are still untranslated volumes.
The first two volumes contain a preface, laws on education, property ownership, social connections, and hostages. The third volume is devoted to the law of torts. Most of the laws come from the sayings of King Cormac Mac Airt and the warrior Senfaelad. Books 4 and 5 treat the laws of ownership, tenancy, water rights, division of territory, social ranks, churches, leaders, promises, professions. For the most part, the volumes published by scholars include interpretations of the laws of the ancient Irish, notes and commentaries.
Ancient Ireland was divided into more than 100 kingdoms - tauts. Connections were established between the subjects of each taut. If there was a treaty of friendship, then the subjects of both kingdoms had the same status. If the tauts were not friends with each other, then a person entering another kingdom had a “legal” or “outsider” status. That's if you're lucky. There was also a lower rank - “non-human”. If a representative of this rank was harmed, then legally this was not considered a crime. And such a person, with the exception of his taut, had no rights anywhere.
Also in Brehon's laws there are people with the status of "Grey Dog". As a rule, they came from abroad. Such men did not have any rights. They could marry a girl of the highest rank, then their status would change, but they had few rights. For example, contracts could only be concluded with the permission of the wife. Her primacy was also in raising children.
There are also statuses denoting monks and pilgrims, shipwrecked, exiles. If a crime was committed against the latter, then the retribution was low or completely absent. Thus, we see that the class system was clearly distributed, and there was no point in talking about any equality. But people could change their status - raise it if they became richer or received a new position, lower it if they went bankrupt, committed misconduct, etc.
Contents of Brehon's Law
For their crimes, people were punished with payment for honor - a certain amount that the criminal pays for murder, satire, beatings, and denial of hospitality. No torture, etc. In a couple of sources I came across an example of punishment for a person of higher rank adding porridge to the honey of a person of lower rank. This was interpreted as providing the wrong food. Apparently, they had to maintain some kind of subordination in this regard.
Even the king of the province was not exempt from punishment. If he insulted someone, he must pay off for it with 42 milk cows. An ordinary man paid one cow for this. It was equal to one ounce of silver (a little more than 28 grams). The higher the rank, the higher the pay. There was great demand from the clergy and upper classes.
Each person had his own so-called price of honor. And she corresponded to his status. If someone of higher status accuses you of something, then they believe him more, because his price of honor is more significant. Evidence is considered from both sides, but a person with a higher value of honor has a higher chance of being right in court.
Consider murder. A man kills someone, the Brehon court gives him a fine, which is paid by his immediate family. The punishment fell on several people, which forced the criminal to think several times before doing something. For unintentional murder, the fine was halved. If the criminal died before trial, then responsibility was removed from his relatives, and they did not pay anything to the family of the murdered person. The Irish believed that “crime dies with the criminal.” If the criminal and his entourage did not pay the fine, then he could be killed. The murder of a woman was punished severely. They could cut off an arm or leg for him and even kill him. But if the woman herself killed, then she was given an oar, a boat, a bowl of porridge and sent along the river. This is equality.
If you injure a person, then relatives look after him for 9 days. After this period, the doctor examines the victim. If he is better, but continues to be treated, then you continue to pay for sick leave. Fools, crazy people, and weak-minded people are not allowed into a sick person’s house. Also, you can’t play cards there, make noise, or announce news, fight. Peace and quiet in every sense. To the point that pigs are not allowed to squeal and dogs are not allowed to bark. Yes, they had it written down.
The early Brehon Laws define two types of rape - common and drunken. In the first case, the fine was always paid. For a married woman he must pay the full price, for a concubine - half the fine. In the second case there were exceptions. If a married, drunk woman was left alone in a tavern and was raped while drunk, then she was not paid any money. Historians also write that 8 types of women did not receive compensation for drunken rape. I found only two types - prostitutes and adulterers. There are also prices for sexual harassment. Kissed against your will - you pay a fine. Lifting up your skirt, disgracing a woman, is also a fine. 10 ounces (280 grams) of silver for the hands under the dress, touching the married woman.
There were also interesting disputes regarding divorce. Firstly, on February 1, husband and wife could officially divorce. Secondly, the wife has the right to file for divorce if the husband has a mistress, he spreads slander about his wife, cannot support her, or deceived her into marrying him. You can also get a divorce if the man is impotent, very fat, infertile, or loves men. The last two points may be grounds for him to become a priest. A man can get a divorce if his wife cheated on him, has an abortion, steals, spoils her husband’s reputation, or cannot feed her child milk. These are completely different and sometimes strange reasons for divorce.
Women in Ireland at this time fared slightly better than in other parts of Europe. Yes, the ladies had the right to divorce, they could get money for violence, and sometimes owned real estate. But in general, women were considered partially capable and could not enter into any transactions without the permission of a guardian - father, husband, son. Although there were rare exceptions when women owned lands, they even were queens.
In ancient Ireland, it was customary to send children to other families to be raised. And adoptive parents often became closer to their relatives. The foster family was involved in education. Parents paid for their children - more for girls, who are harder to raise and have less benefit in the future. Children of lower ranks were taught to cook, chop wood, and care for animals. Children of higher status were taught archery, horse riding, and swimming.
Let's look at a few interesting, in my opinion, laws:
• If a criminal hit someone and the victim got a lump without blood, then the fine was equal to two cows.
• Slaves = prosperity for masters. Freeing slaves was seen as an immoral and antisocial act that could lead to supernatural retribution.
• The groom pays the bride's father a ransom in the form of land, cows, horses or money. Each spouse has rights only to the thing that he brought into the house.
• A man who does not feed a pregnant woman pays a fine.
• If a husband does not have sex with his wife due to apathy, he must pay a fine.
• If a woman invited a man to her home for sex, but at the same time began to shout that she was suddenly against it, then he can rape her with impunity. If there was no agreement, then the man is considered a criminal.
• The children provide the elderly with a can of milk and an oatcake every day. They are required to wash their hair every Saturday and bathe them every three weeks.
• If the doctor’s actions make the patient worse, he returns the money and compensates for the damage.
• A layman is allowed to drink six pints (3 liters) of ale for dinner, a monk only three pints so that he can say a prayer.
• The owner is obliged to feed any guest.
• If you have pledged a piece of jewelry to a lender, he is obliged to temporarily give it to you for a special event. If you go out without jewelry due to the fault of the creditor, then this is considered humiliation, and he pays a fine.
• Harpers were considered musicians of noble birth. But trumpeters, timpani players, flutists, jugglers, magicians, and horse riders do not have their own status.
As a result, the Brehon Code of Laws lasted until about the 17th century, when the English completely eradicated it. They didn't like that ordinary people had such extensive rights. The Crown tried to destroy documents, any mention of laws. But still, enough materials have reached our time from which we can partially reproduce the life of the ancient Irish.
Information