Old Irish Law

The oldest manuscript of laws, preserved to date, dates back to the 12th century]. Most legal manuscripts date from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries .; a significant part of them is stored in the library of Dublin Trinity College . The first major publication of monuments of Old Irish law was the series “Ancient Laws of Ireland” ^[2] . This publication was prepared for publication by major Irish historians and antiquaries of the XIX century. - J. O'Carry and D. O'Donovan . Both of them did not live to see the release of the book; editors of volumes 1–4 who did not speak the Irish language made many errors both in texts and in translation. Only the last two volumes were edited by a specialist celtologist - R. Atkinson. In the XX century. more accurate scientific editions of individual legal treatises appeared with English or German translation. A series of publications on Old Irish law was issued by R. Tourneisen in the 1920s and 1930s. Then his work was continued by D.E. Binchi ; a comparatively complete diplomatic publication of the Irish legal treatises (without translation) was published by him only in 1978 ^[3] . Corpus Iuris Hibernici contains almost all the surviving texts and their variants. Many texts are still not translated into any other language.

Known as separate legislative treatises on certain topics (such as Críth Gablach, “Branched purchase” - a treatise on the status of people within the tribe), and collections of legal documents. The largest collection is called "Senchas Már", that is, "Great Antiquity." According to legend, it belongs to the era of the enlightener of Ireland, St. Patrick , who contributed a lot, as the legend says, to the Bregons in compiling the code of legal customs of the country.

It can be considered undoubted that legal texts are the oldest monuments of Irish writing. Modern studies show that some texts arose already at the end of the VII century. Already in the IX — X century. glosses begin to appear to the texts, explaining too concise rules of law or unclear concepts. The general nature and some of the individual articles are distinguished by their accuracy and completeness of definition, which is especially noticeable when compared with other legal collections known under the general name “ barbaric truths ” (Leges barbarorum).

Land Law and Status

In the "Senjas Sea" in the foreground are the annual redistribution of arable land, which was considered a communal possession; such a division existed among the Celts in the most distant times, in Ireland it persisted until 1782 , and is still found in the mountain communities of Scotland and Wales . Although the Celts did not prevent individual members of the community from acquiring plots of land for personal ownership, they did not take root and farm households and their family members (legal and illegal) jointly used arable and grazing land, as well as all kinds of products on the farm. The family itself occupied a common manor house called crich; several of these “krikhs” formed túath (a kind of barony ), which merged into mór túath , partly corresponding to the Russian volost .

Later, leaders appeared in the “mor tuat” called rí (“king”); the strength and significance of such ri depended on many reasons, among which fuidhir (literally means a broken man), reminiscent of an old Russian outcast, were of no small importance.

A person removed for something from the clan, and therefore deprived of land and inheritance rights, became fuidhir and sought a patron among the kings; the king gave him a piece of empty land, for which the outcast was obliged to personally serve his patron with arms in his hands.

Already in remote times, quite numerous squads of warrior farmers gathered around the kings, which, of course, helped strengthen the power of the kings and the oppression of the people; thus, gradually, politically strong kings emerged from the modest ringleaders, of whom there were five in Ireland (Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster and Meath, belonging to the names of O'Neill (O'Neill), O'Brien (O'Brien), O 'Connor, Mac Morug and O'Melaglin).

There were several class degrees, but aire ("noble") was of great importance, which, according to Senchas már and other legislative treatises, should have a certain amount of cattle, agricultural implements, house belongings (listing of which indicates the simplicity of living conditions in that distant era ), finally, of a certain size with a house with a yard, the area of ​​which was different for each estate degree. The upper-class log house usually occupied a length of 17 to 27 p., And the width of the yard was determined by the head of the house, who sat on the threshold of the front door and threw a certain weight in front of him, the stop of which determined the boundary of the outbuilding.

In addition to free citizens of the community who had the right to own land, to elect and be elected to public office, the Irish had slaves, the contingent of which was replenished thanks to the robber sea raids in Scotland, Southern England and Brittany; slaves cultivated the land, grazed the flocks of their owners and did not enjoy any rights until the landowner-nobleman found the opportunity to grant them the title of their tenants, also often called fuidhir.

Above the freed slaves stood a class of people corresponding to Roman clients, of indigenous origin and called faifs ; for the right to use the land, these faifs contributed one of three categories of lease, depending on agreement with the legal owner of the land; this quitrent consisted almost exclusively of agricultural products and only later switched to money.

Like most prehistoric peoples, the Irish currency unit was cattle and, mainly, a cow . The welfare of free people depended mainly on the land, and therefore the Bregon law carefully developed all legal relations to land ownership and the transfer of property rights from one person to another.

Marriage and Family

Equally in detail, although not always clear, marriage is examined; in these matters, the supreme jurisdiction belonged to the pope, but due to the distance of the distance on the "green" island a peculiar relationship developed between the husband and wife.

Divorce was commonplace, and lawmakers only took care of protecting the property rights of both the legal wife and the illegal; the lawful wife had the right to cede her property in whole or in part to anyone, controlled her husband's orders and could separate her share from the common possession if she was worried about the claims of the illegal wife.

Children were almost never brought up at home, and were given for a certain fee to one of the poor conscripts or tenants, in whom the girls remained until 14 years old and the boys under 17 years old. If the child was still very young, then it was replaced by another; a grown pupil was required to support foster parents until his death.

The level of education was, of course, low: the girls had to learn how to weave baskets , grind in a hand mill , bake bread and “equip” cattle; for aristocrats, the course of learning was supplemented by the art of spinning, cutting, sewing and embroidering; boys were taught to burn bricks, tillage and chop wood, and aristocrats were taught horseback riding, swimming, slinging and chess. The food was the same and uniform for all; the clothes given by parents were modest, and only the children of kings wore silk; for losses caused by children, fines, or éric, were paid by foster parents.

Court proceedings. Other legal rules

Fines ( penalties ) were the only weapons in the hands of the Bregons who did not have at all the ability to impose other punishments on the perpetrators. Fines were received in part by the relatives of the victim, in part by the king; a person unable to pay a fine fell into slavery. The arrest was not expressed by imprisonment, and the perpetrator was shackled. The death penalty for the murder of a free man was introduced later by the Catholic clergy, which acquired great importance in the country.

Roads, bridges, ferries and fishing equipment were maintained by the community, which also took care of maintaining fortifications and fortresses that protected túath from attacks by neighboring clans. Conscription was carried out by all men and women who were capable of carrying arms; only the order of the bishops at the end of the 7th century (the so-called “Adomannan Law”) forced women to refuse military service.

Regarding the legal proceedings, very little information has been preserved; all that is known is that there were various instances, prosecutors, or prosecutors, and defense attorneys. The boundaries of land were defined by boundaries and boundary pits; the latter were arranged with the same ceremonies that are still observed in Russian villages, namely, backfilling with coal and stones, as well as a section of the boys. Sometimes the border of the site was determined by an ogamic stone with the name of the ancestor.

• The Bregon Law // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.