Brehon Laws: The Ancient Wisdom of Ireland

by Jo Kerrigan, Richard Mills (Photographer)

A bright and readable book giving an overview of the ancient legal codex, Brehon Law.

Brehon Law is an incredibly valuable part of our Irish heritage, being not only the oldest legal codex but also a priceless source of information about the earliest culture, customs and practices of this country. Its origins lie far back in pre-recorded history; hundreds if not thousands of years before Christianity arrived. Originally evolved by the people for the people, reflecting the needs of the times and developing with them, the laws were always transmitted orally, passed down from generation to generation. By the time Christian scribes committed them to written documents, therefore, they were already ancient.

As such, Brehon Law sources are scarce and often present conflicting information - Jo Kerrigan's Brehon will discuss the genuine laws, insofar as they are known, while offering a fresh, engaging perspective on those which will most resonate with the modern reader. Subjects such as the Bee Tracts, the value of dogs and cats, sex/marriage/rape/divorce, punishment and honour price will be presented alongside illustrations and photographs.

Genres: Ireland, History, Nonfiction, Irish Literature

176 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 2020

Reviews

[Lucy Cummin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a perfect introduction to the unique law system that the Irish had evolved over millenia for governing themselves before the British swept through, Henry VIII and Elizabeth, and began the process of trying to destroy a culture and absorb the people. The essence of Brehon Law is this: reparation over retribution. A starving person who stole bread would not be punished as would a perfectly well-fed person and might not even be fined or made to work off the deed. In England (and France and thus Les Miserables) until the 1820's you could receive the death penalty. Couples could decide, after a year, that the whole thing wasn't working out and split up. Whatever you had brought into the marriage would be taken out. If there was a child the father would support it but generally the woman went home to her family. If a husband bragged (or complained) publicly about relations with his wife that was grounds for divorce! And on and on. It was a system designed to calm but satisfy the anger of those who had been wronged and encourage close-knit groups not to get caught up in never-ending feuds. There was a recognized hierarchy (as well as the severity of the crime) that determined the degree of reparation a person was required to make -- to injure a brehon (judge) or the local chieftain would incur a greater fine (generally #'s of cows) than a farmer with his own property and on down the line. It's a fascinating system that we could benefit from examining. I think, in our huge ungainly culture where you are more likely to have a community of like-minded interests, far-ranging family etc, as opposed to living in a closely-knit and very interdependent community might make implementing many of the ideas difficult. Also (some of us anyway) in our effort to avoid overt hierarchical distinctions among people would make placing value on various crimes challenging -- or maybe not. But the main thing is the attitude piece, that people do bad things, harmful things and the best thing is to keep them close and make them work off whatever in an appropriate way -- not isolate them in prisons or hang or kill. But even Brehon law had a limit: If a person was deemed hopeless they would be put in a boat with no oars and taken out 'beyond the ninth wave' and left there. (In essence the 9th wave is the distance out to sea where the tidal currents would not bring the boat back to land.) The book is written very simply with lots of photographs, truly intended as an introduction.****

[Alan ODonovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read! This book makes learning about the laws, rights, customs, class structures and penalties that were followed by the Celtic Irish accessible for all. I learned so much from this one book and it gives context to so many words and phrases which I have come across in other books but did not fully understand.
To round off all the new concepts you learn on Brehon Law, the author finishes off with a chapter that goes through a ‘Day in the Life’ of someone living in Celtic Ireland. This ties the book off nicely and puts all the new information you learned into a ‘real life’ context.
Brehon Law had so many things right only for the British to force Common Law upon the Irish people. It would be no harm for more people to become aware of the law structures that existed long before our current ones!

[Judith Leipold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Watered down and easy to read and undertand. Lots of photos that seemed superfluous. By JK's own admission the work would not be possible without the life long work of Eugene O'Curry and John O'Donovan. These mid nineteenth century Irish scholars devoted their lives to unraveling the history, and mystery hidden within ancient documents. Languages needed to be translated and interpreted and resulted in thirteen volumes. The pair never lived to see the publication of their work.
JK's work is an elementary introduction to the orginial research of these two men.

[Sally Knotwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever wonder what life was like in Ireland long ago? This book clearly shows us that Ireland had laws to protect the important things in life - not only long ago, ut they can even be applied to today's culture. Sadly, today our laws seem to protect the criminal more than the person who sustained the injury, be it physical or property-wise. Laws pertaining to land ownership, personal safety, the rights of animals, even the rights of women.

Jo Kerrigan does her research! And the photos included in the book are stunning (thank you Richard Mills for your photography).

[Arianne Hogan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly quick read, filled with fascinating history and commentary about the world of ancient Ireland and the Brehon laws. Quite a remarkable old system it seems. This book succinctly explained what we know about the currently translated Brehon laws and was extremely interesting. Would recommend

[Lorna Sixsmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very accessible and easy to read. Extremely illuminating on Ireland's past particularly with regard to women, marriage etc. The Church has a lot to answer for! I did wonder if it was a little idealistic in that very little of the Brehon law was criticised.

[Cian Moran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Information is good but it's written like a primary school book. Also makes medieval Ireland out to be borderline utopian.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative and a great start to learning old Irish laws. Very helpful to understanding the culture of the time and what they found important!

[Rusty Cutlery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, easy to read and a decent introduction to the brehon laws. The sections are relatively short and you can get through them fairly quickly whilst still getting a good overview of the laws.