Brehons: The Judges of Ancient Irish Law

As we celebrate the feast day of Saint Patrick this month, the patron Saint of Ireland, we also celebrate our Irish heritage. Part of that heritage encompasses our ancient Irish legal system established by the Brehon (BREE-hǝn) Laws. These laws spanned a millennium and embodied a sophisticated set of legal governance that is considered progressive for its time. The people who dispensed justice under this system of laws were known as the Brehons.

Who Were the Brehons?

The title “Brehon” derives from the Irish “breitheamh” (breɪ’haɪm), which means judge. Becoming a Brehon was not easy. A person would dedicate themselves to twenty years of study in the law before they were considered proficient enough to become a Brehon.

Much of their studies included the oral traditions of the law, which was the initial method of passing down and dispensing the law through the generations. It was not until the seventh century that the Brehon laws would be recorded in written form.

Rigorous study was not the only requirement to become a Brehon. Family descent was a key factor. A Brehon would have entered his role as a matter of heredity.

As such, a career as a Brehon would pass down to future generations in a family. This led to an established class of professional judges who dedicated themselves to carrying out the lifetime duties of a Brehon. Certain families became known for the exceptional Brehons who descended from their families.

Brehons were also well compensated. Their high compensation was paid to eliminate the potential for bribes being paid or unjust results being handed down.

The establishment of the Brehon law has been dated to approximately one thousand B.C., as evidenced by the oral accounts that were subsequently transcribed. The Brehon laws are truly of Celtic Irish traditions and origin.

The influence of foreign legal systems, such as the English common law, would not occur on the Island of Ireland until the seventeenth century. By that time, the Brehon law was viewed as inapplicable and outdated.

The Brehon Law Was Unique

Our modern legal framework comprises separate criminal and civil justice systems. If a person commits a criminal act, murder, assault, theft, and the like, they are likely to go to jail.

If a person commits a breach of contract, injures someone, or fails to pay their bills, they will likely be required to pay or compensate the other party for their monetary loss. Under the Brehon law, this dual system, a criminal and civil justice system, did not exist.

While the Brehon law appeared structured in a fashion similar to our civil justice system today, it was not the same. The overriding emphasis in the Brehon system was compensation to the aggrieved party for the harm done to them. It focused on the contracts existing between parties, the determination of property disputes, including livestock and goods, and other similar types of disputes.

Punishment of individuals or punitive actions, such as jail, were not considered. This is reflective of the attitude of the early Irish to seek equity and compensation to resolve “harms” to the aggrieved party rather than imposing punishment.

A notable example of equitable compensation, rather than punitive measures, in Brehon law is the payment known as “éric” (AIR-eek). Consider, for example, a murder case. Under Brehon law, the murder of an individual was not punished by jailing or executing the perpetrator. Rather, a Brehon would assess the perpetrator éric, a fine, for commission of the murder, to be paid to the victim’s family.

The éric was assessed based on the severity of the act and the victim’s status in the community. If the perpetrator failed to pay the éric to the victim’s family, other avenues under the law could be imposed to obtain it from the perpetrator.

The Brehon Laws of Ancient Ireland

The Brehon laws encompassed a wide range of areas that the early Irish would have incurred daily. These areas included music, art, poetry, property, land, relationships, health, and the care for the hungry and poor.

In music, harpists were the only musicians who were allowed to hold noble standing. Flute players, trumpeters, jugglers, magicians, and other related professions, held no societal status other than the status of the chieftain they were affiliated with.

In land transactions, if a person wished to acquire good land from an owner, a buyer would pay 24 cows. If the land being acquired was rough and dry, the buyer would pay the owner 12 cows.

In relationships between a woman and a man, if a man takes a woman away on horseback into the woods or seagoing vessel, and members of the woman’s clann are present when they ride off, the clann must object withing twenty-four hours of her being taken or they may not demand payment of a fine. Before a marriage could take place, the groom was required to pay a bride price of land, cattle, horses, and gold or silver to the bride’s father. The married couple would retain rights to individual land, flocks, and household wares they each bring to the marriage.

Married women had equitable relief under the Brehon laws too. If a husband was listless and did not pay romantic attention to his wife, he was required to pay a fine for his inattentiveness. If a marriage relationship was waning, the couple were entitled to declare on February first that a mutual decision was made to separate and leave the marriage.

Care for the elderly was also accounted for under Brehon law. For instance, when a clann member became elderly, the clann must provide the elder with one oatcake a day and a container of sour milk as food. The clann was required to bathe the elder every twentieth night and wash their head every Saturday. The elder was also to be given an allotment of seventeen sticks of firewood to keep them warm.

The Brehon law also required care for the hungry and poor. If someone came to a door asking for food and care, the person or clann residing in the “teach” (chalk), the home, must provide food and care to them unconditionally.

As for the spiritual care of the clergy, a layman was allowed to consume up to six pints of ale with dinner, while monks were restricted to only three pints of ale with their dinner. This was to prevent the monk from becoming intoxicated before prayer time.

The Brehon law of ancient Ireland constituted a distinctive legal system that upheld principles of equity and justice on the island for one thousand years. The arbiters of that system were the judges, the Brehons. Judges, like the Brehons before them, remain committed to providing fair and unbiased justice.

I am proud to call myself a Brehon. As we celebrate our grand heritage this month remember our Brehons. Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!