| 1 The Brehon Laws | 2 Remedies under the Brehon Laws | 3 Royal Succession under the Brehon Laws |
| 4 The Tánaiste | 5 The Brehon Marriage Laws | Return to Killeens Home Page |
Each king had an official judge called a "brithem" (pronounce "brehev", anglicised as "Brehon", i.e., judge or jurist), to adjudicate, or assist in adjudicating, on legal matters within his jurisdiction, and to represent him in legal matters with other Tuatha. Another class of lawyer was the Aigne, (pronounce Eye-na), or advocate. The laws were common over the whole island, and conferences of the brehons were frequently held for the purpose of updating the laws and ironing out any differences that might arise. Such conferences were largely independent of influence from the kings, and were pan-national, even when nobody held sway as high king. In fact, the Brehon laws contain little or no reference to the position of High King, the reality being that power was concentrated at regional or provincial level.
While legend has it that there were 5 provinces, provincial or regional boundaries fluctuated as power groupings changed. (In modern Ireland there are 4 provinces, but these do not have separate governments or administrations; one province, Ulster, is divided, 3 of its counties being in the Republic of Ireland, and 6 counties being part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The administrative units are the counties,- of which there are 26 in the Republic and 6 in Northern Ireland,- and regional groupings of counties for various purposes, e.g., Eastern Health Board, Western Health Board, etc., which do not correspond to Provincial boundaries).
There were apparently no prisons in ancient Ireland, although there is reference to perpetrators being held in chains and hostage-taking was a common practice to enforce political loyalty.
Marriage could be by contract, but, also, any sexual union which produced offspring was considered a marriage.
All marriages involved duties of one spouse to the other as well as obligations in relation to one's children. A person could, under this system, have multiple marriages.
Husband and wife held separate property, unlike the English law which gave a wife's property over to her husband. The spouse moving into the other's territory took his/her cattle with him/her. A husband usually paid a Coibhce (pronounce Kivka) or bride-price to the bride's father, and, over a period of years, to the bride. If the marriage was not successful, that spouse went back to his/her own people, taking with him/her the cattle brought in and their increase. In addition, a payment of compensation might arise between the spouses, depending on the nature of the contract of marriage and the circumstances of the split-up. If the break-up was the wife's fault, the bride-price was returned to the husband; but not if it was the husband's.
Marriage of propertied people was often for 20 years initially, with a renewal if the parties so agreed. The marriage itself was often preceded by a trial marriage.
These laws continued into the Christian period and were apparently supported by St Columba at the conference of Drom Ceat, (pronounce Drumm Kyat), (575 A.D.).
(The Norman and English invaders, by contrast, attempted to impose moral law. They enforced monogamous marriage, and disenfranchised "illegitimate" children. In their enthusiasm for punishing crime, the idea of compensating the victims became of lesser importance. Imprisonment replaced bondage).