Ireland’s Deep Rooted Legal System

Much of what we know today about ancient Ireland Many observers have said that Celtic Irish law was stems from the country’s tradition of Brehon Law. the most equal rights law system of the European Brehon Law was the body of Irish laws which scholars law systems. Men and women could be Brehons have traced back to Bronze Age (circa 2000BC to and equity between the two sexes was enshrined in 500BC) times and took its name from the Brehon the law. They enjoyed the same property rights and (Brithem in Irish), a class of ‘wandering lawyer’, women could easily end a marriage as a man. highly educated mediators who rose to fill some of the vacuum created by the demise of the mysterious Druids. These laws were passed down the generations by oral tradition - Brehon’s spent many years learning these laws off by rote - and it was not until the 7th Century before they were first committed to parchment. Gaelic society - which was Irish speaking - was guided by these principals from the earliest times until about the 17th Century, and later in some remote parts of Ireland. Irish scholars Eugene O’Curry and John O’Donovan undertook the mammoth task of translating Brehon Laws into English in the early 1850s. One famous Brehon lawyer was Brig Brethach (Brigit of the Judgements) also known as Brig Ambue the ‘cowless’ or ‘propertyless’, who served along with her father Sencha MacAilella under King Conchobar MacNessa, and is credited with several rulings that advanced women’s rights, including a correction of one of her father’s previous judgements. Trees were highly regarded by the ancient Irish for food, shelter, tools and mystic qualities and as such enjoyed specific protection - depending on their ranking - in Brehon Law. Species such as Oak, Willow and Hazel were considered Ireland’s DEEP ROOTED LEGAL SYSTEM Brehon Law is BY LLOYD GORMAN to be ‘Chieftain trees’ understood to be the and destroying one longest practiced legal of these carried system in Europe and the same weight as the second oldest killing a tribal leader. recorded legal system in the world, after Sanskrit. Interestingly capital punishment was seen to be of Irish linguistic and early Irish law academic Daniel little value to society as a punishment and was not Binchy (1899-1989) said the legal texts told us a lot encouraged as a penalty, but could be used extreme about the forgotten secrets of Ireland’s past. cases. Binchy - an uncle of Irish author Maeve Binchy - said Brehons were expected to uphold and practice the they gave us: “details that describe ancient life in the judicial standards they had responsibility for in their days when the Irish still lived in mud huts and small own lives. Brehons who did not speak the truth or act ringed settlements and paid their bills in cows and with justice would get large blotches on their cheeks, bacon.” it was said. Another academic wrote that the cow was the measure The torque was the traditional badge of office for of everything in Irish life, and law. “It was the unit of Brehon and it was said that if they lied or were value; the ultimate in poverty was the man with only deceitful the brooch would tighten, and loosen when one cow; the wealth of the richest consisted of vast the truth was said. herds of them.” Brehon Law was irrevocably damaged by the ‘flight Contracts and agreements were formalised by the of the earls’ when following their defeat at the Battle exchange of cattle and related terminology was also of Kinsale in 1601, the old order Gaelic chieftains and common. In what may be one of the earliest if not families fled Ireland for exile in mainland Europe. first known ‘copyright’ disputes, High King of Ireland Cromwell’s invasion and bloody ‘conquest’ of the Diarmaid MacCerbhiall settled an acrimonious dispute country nearly 50 years later effectively wiped out any between two monks arguing over a copied manuscript. vestiges of this great legal tradition. King MacCerbhiall judged in favour of the plaintiff The indigenous legal system was considered by the with the ruling ‘to every cow belongs its calf’. British to be ‘lewd’ and ‘unreasonable’ and they But Brehon Law was so much more than a bovine were outlawed, declared barbarous and ruthlessly based collection of edicts and decrees - it put people, suppressed. A black veil of suppression would fall life and nature before property. over all aspect of Irish culture and civilisation that

would last for hundreds more years. Common law, the law of England and the English throne, were introduced to Ireland. The ‘new’ legal history of Ireland was written in blood and a people were subjducated and forced to endure generations of injustice and persecution. It was not until 1922 that a fledgling Irish nation was able to set and determine its own legal standards. Many of the basic concepts of Brehon Law were readopted back into the laws of the independent Irish nation which has Irish and English as official languages of the state.

Above: The Broighter Collar torque dates from the 1st Century BC. Photo: National Museum of Ireland

Irish law finds a voice in Europe If the Irish language and law share a long and rich history, then they also have a bright and promising future. In the last two years or so more than two dozen lawyers qualified to practice law in the Irish language and the tap has been turned on now for a future supply. On June 16, Galway’s National University of Ireland School of Law announced a new postgraduate two year Bachelor of Arts (LLB) starting in September that will allow students to fast track a career in law and the appointment of four Adjunct Professors for the programme. At the same time, the university on the west coast of Ireland - which held onto its Gaelic speaking culture in ways that other parts of the country didn’t - also introduced a new Irish language stream for undergraduate law students. “The LLB is an excellent conversion course for those who want to enhance their existing career, transfer to a career in law or develop their knowledge of the law for personal reasons,” Dr Rónán Kennedy, Programme Director of the LLB. “It provides a rapid route towards training for the legal professions in Ireland, offering all the subjects currently required for the solicitor and barrister entrance examinations in Ireland.” The new Irish language stream has been developed in response to the demand for Irish lawyer linguists and is an optional stream available on the school’s undergraduate courses. The stream will allow students to develop their Irishlanguage skills throughout their four year full law degree with legal Irish modules. In year three students will spend one semester studying at NUI Galway’s Gaeltacht campus in An Cheathrú Rua and one semester of professional work placement in an Irishspeaking legal environment. Dr Charles O’Mahony, Head of the School of Law, said: “It is the ideal qualification for students who want to build a career in law and open up a range of exciting job opportunities working through the Irish language. There are fantastic job opportunities for Irish Lawyer Linguists in the Institutions of the European Union.” Australian academic Professor Brendan Edgeworth at the University of New South Wales Law School is one of the four Adjunct Professors appointed to oversee the programme. The others include Justice Peter Charleton, Supreme Court judge, Prof. Dr Guénaël Mettraux, Judge of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Member of the European Union’s Human Rights Review Panel and Emily Logan, first Chief Commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. NUI Galway’s law school was established in 1849, just four years after the institution opened.

Blackhall Culture Society on a recent trip to Newgrange and the Hill of Tara. Photo: Law Society of Ireland