Brehon Laws
The Brehon Laws ( German judges' laws ; Irish to Féineachas ; Old Irish to Fénechas ) are the Old Irish form of civil jurisdiction before the Anglo-Norman occupation of the country . They also form the basis of today's British legal system known as case or common law . The Irish name Fénechas means law of the Féine or Féne, ie the free peasantry.
history
The old Irish judges ( old Irish brithemain , new Irish breithiúna , Anglicised Brehon ) were free in their judgment, which made them an influential group. There was training to be a judge in law schools. Judgments were passed down orally for centuries before they were made between AD 600 and 900 and later and later. a. recorded in the Burren in Dun Cahermacnaughten , County Clare . The place was also known as Fort O'Davoranstown because of the specially built accommodation. The O'Davoran clan ( Uí Dhábhoireann ) maintained one of the most important law schools in medieval Ireland here .
The cases were described in the oldest dialect of the Irish language, called Bérla Féini, which was difficult to read even at the time it was written, so the scribes had to be specially instructed. The commentators often struggled trying to explain the archaic texts. The most significant records are the Senchus Mór and the Book of Acaill. The original of Senchus Mór has been lost. The two Irish scholars O'Donovan and O'Curry, who translated the laws into English around 1670, were only able to do so after a lifetime of study, and in numerous cases, to their regret, were not even completely sure. O´Curry's translation comprises 2,906 and O'Donovan's 2,491 pages, which were published in five volumes. There are still untranslated texts that are of a similar size.
The continued existence of independent Irish legal practice was seen by English commentators of the late 16th and 17th centuries such as Edmund Spenser and John Davies as one of the main reasons for the incomplete submission or " civilization " of Ireland. This assessment was not wrong insofar as the largely independent Irish legal culture was the basis and symbol for the continued existence of the Irish social constitution ("derbfine") based on clan rule. Crimes were typically punished outside of the state-jurisdictional access between the families concerned, i.e. in a way that ran counter to common law .
The English poet Edmund Spenser, for example, who lived in Ireland until his expulsion in 1598, argued in his infamous book "A Veue of The Present State of Ireland" in the early 1590s that the exercise of the Brehon Law was before "customs." "(" Customes ") and adherence to Catholicism (" religion ") the first vice of the local population. Breaking these "vices" is a prerequisite for establishing English rule on the island and enhancing Irish folk culture. As the English administration of Ireland gained the upper hand over the Irish lords during the highly conflicted 17th century, the Brehon Laws were indeed to be pushed back in the 17th century.
According to a tradition that is certainly inaccurate, St. Patrick and King Lear commissioned a record in AD 438 in which Christian positions were incorporated through a revision by St. Patrick.
source
- Ancient laws of Ireland. Volume 2: Senchus Mor, Part II: Law of distress (completed). Laws of hostage-sureties, fosterage, saerstock tenure, daerstock tenure, and of social connexions. Published under direction of the commissioners for publishing the Ancient Laws and Institutes of Ireland. Thom et al., Dublin et al. 1869.
See also
literature
- Kuno Meyer : The Triads of Ireland (= Todd Lecture Series 13, ZDB -ID 424218-x ). Hodges, Figgis, Dublin 1906.
- Laim Breatnach (Ed.): Uraicecht na Ríar. The Poetic Grades in Early Irish Law (= Early Irish law series 2). Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin 1987, ISBN 0-901282-89-8 .
- Fergus Kelly: A Guide of Early Irish Law (O = Early Irish law series 3). Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin 1988, ISBN 0-901282-95-2 .
- Ronald G. Asch : Cultural conflict and law. Ireland, Common Law and the Ancient Constitution. In: Ius Commune. 21, 1994, ISSN 0579-2428 , pp. 169-212, online (PDF; 4.86 MB) .
- Achim Landwehr : "Becoming a liege and true Englishman". English policy of assimilation in Ireland 1534–1547. In: Historical communications from the Ranke Society. 12, 1999, ISSN 0936-5796 , pp. 1-34.