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| Celtic Radio Community > The Celts > Brehon Law |
| Posted by: Mailagnas maqqas Dunaidonas 27-Feb-2005, 07:50 PM | ||
| Introduction to Brehon Law- Imagine if you will a system of law that prevailed for at least two or three thousand years on the Emerald Isle of Erin and Ulster, a system described as barbarous by the Anglo-Normans who finally stamped it out in Elizabethan times, after at least four centuries of trying, a system in which the equality of men--and women--was recognized, and under which a humane and cultured society existed for at least a millennium and likely for many centuries or even millennia before that. Such a legal system is not a fantasy--it is the Senchus Mor, more popularly known as the Brehon Law. Ironically, it was under a woman's reign--that of Queen Elizabeth I--that the Anglo-Normans were finally successful in destroying the legal system that gave medieval women rights very much on par with men. The above is the description of a class I taught at the Barony of Thescorre's College of Three Ravens in an attempt to give an overview of what may well have been the most advanced jurisprudence ever. Here is a list of resources I used in preparing for the class. From the entertaining to the scholarly. Introduction to Brehon Law Resources as compiled by Mailagnas maqqas Dunaidonas Barony of Thescorre Kingdom of Aethelmearc Online Resources: http://www.danann.org/library/law/law.html Compiled by Michael Ragan. Good layperson-oriented overview, with: strong emphasis on spiritual matters. May have too much emphasis on current relevance of Pagan ideals for some people?s taste. http://ua_tuathal.tripod.com/testdefault.html Brehon Law Project, a loose coalition of individuals and organizations who are interested in the study of Brehon Law. A more scholarly approach to the subject. http://www.ucc.ie/celt/index.html CELT, the Corpus of Electronic Texts, brings the wealth of Irish literary and historical culture to the Internet, for the use and benefit of everyone worldwide. It has a searchable online database consisting of contemporary and historical texts from many areas, including literature and the other arts. http://image.ox.ac.uk/ Links to digital copies of early Celtic manuscripts. Bibliography A Guide to Early Irish Law. Fergus Kelly, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (School of Celtic Studies). Scholarly, authoritative summary intended for anyone interested in early Irish law, with emphasis on pre-Norman period. General account of main topics dealt with in surviving law-texts. The Oxford History of Ireland. R.F. Foster, Oxford University of Press. Easy to read section on Law, Church, and Society gives good historical overview of Brehon Law context. Red Branch. Morgan Llywelyn, Ballantine Books. Easy to read re-telling of the story of Cuchulain, the Hound of Ulster, which contains many illustrations of the pre-Christian Brehon Law in action. Traditional Irish Laws. Mary Dowling Daley, Chronicle Books. Fragments of translated texts that seem to have selected as much for their entertainment value as to be enlightening. In Search of Ancient Ireland. Carmel McCaffery and Leo Eaton, New Amsterdam Books. Good summary coverage of Brehon law, written in lay terms. Example of Brehon Law
An Early Legal Poem. Translated by D.A. Binchy Example of Brehon Law, from http://ua_tuathal.tripod.com/law.html |
| Posted by: Lyra Luminara 17-Apr-2005, 03:43 PM |
| I love Brehon Law....we need more o' that today |
| Posted by: Amergin 11-Jul-2008, 09:35 PM |
| There are many things to be admired about Brehon law, but there are parts I question too. For instance, it's very class oriented, valuing certain people above others. This goes against our egalitarian values nowadays. Plus, because of this value system, you could essentially get away with murder, proving you were willing and able to pay the eric. What do you think? |