Celtic Law : A Short Summary
Filed by Aine MacDermot
DECISIONS IN UNDECIDEABLE CASES
It might happen that in a law case there are no witnesses, or that the oaths on both sides are evenly balanced.
Lots
Lots were mainly used in cases of unwitnessed offenses of domestic animals, like if an animal was killed in a jointly owner herd, and in cases of division of land between heirs which could come to no other result.
Ordeals
Another way to decide such things are ordeals, which contain some form of violence. The most frequent of ordeals in Irish law seems to be the “proof of the cauldron” (fír coiri), where the suspect has to put his hand into a cauldron of boiling water, and if the hand shows signs of scalding afterwards is thought as guilty. However, there were definitely a number of different kinds of ordeals.
Duel (róe)
The formal duel is an accepted ordeal in old Irish law. However, the terms of such a duel must be agreed beforehand and confirmed by sureties from both parties, or is considered invalid. A duel cannot be used to resolve every legal dispute, but only such like bringing a son in a kin group, contesting about ownership of a holding, about false accusation and similar. Normally, if one party doesn’t appear to the duel, it’s case is considered to be lost unless there are reasons for postponement. Wounds inflicted in legal duels are not actionable, and duels have not to be fought to death. Even minor setbacks can be taken to indicate that justice is on the side of the other combatant. These includes things like falling down or dropping ones weapon accidentally.
PUNISHMENT
According to the law texts, there are different ways of possible punishment in Irish Law, of which, however, one is the preferred one, namely payment of fines. The other possibilities are slavery or putting to death or other physical punishment or declaring somebody an outlaw, but these seem to have been only resorted to when the preferred form was not executable.
PAYMENT
We already have seen that the primary method of punishment in Irish law was paying a fine, and this is what we can expect to have been the usual way of atonement for a crime.
IN CASE OF NON-PAYMENT OF FINES
As already noted, these methods were usually only used in case that the culprit was unwilling or unable to pay. The decision which method of punishment should be applied to the non-paying culprit seems to have been completely the choice of the wronged party, the victim if still living, or his relatives in case not.
Slavery
Seemingly this was the second best possibility in most cases. Even though usually treated equally with the death penalty in the law texts, the material worth of a slave seems to have made it more likely that the victim of the crime or his relatives would have sold the culprit into slavery rather than kill him.
PUTTING TO DEATH
Generally, Canon Law seems to have preferred death penalty in cases where the honour-price of the offender was lower than the penalty, and it additionally made the relatives of the offender liable for the fine. However, secular law seems to have employed the death penalty only as an alternative to payment or enslavement.
Hanging
The most common form of executing an offender seems to have been hanging (crochad) from a gibbet (gabul). It is given as a possible punishment for wounding or death.
The Pit
One of the more obscure forms of death penalty is the pit (góla). It seems as if in this case the condemned person, presumably in chains - is left to die of starvation and exposure in a pit.
Slaying
The third form of execution recognised by Irish Law is slaying (guin), probably by sword, spear or axe. It is also referred to as cró (lit. bloody death). (KELLY 1988, 219).
SETTING ADRIFT
This refers to a punishment where the offender is set adrift on the sea (and usually taken into servitude upon being washed ashore). It is only rarely mentioned in the law texts. It seems to have been one of the preferred methods to deal with serious offenses by women. It is possible that this kind of punishment was introduced only after the advent of Christianity. If such a punished criminal is washed back to the shore of his own people, it depends what his crime was as to how he is treated. If it was only a minor offense, he is returned to his former status. If the offense was serious, he seems to have been condemned to serve as an unfree peasant.
PUNISHMENTS ONLY APPEARING IN CANON LAW
Some form of punishments do appear in Ireland exclusively in Canon Law (Church Law). They do not appear in any secular law texts, so we have to assume that they did not appear in the Law prior to the advent of Christianity.
Mutlilation
In difference to many other law texts, mutilation does not seem to have been a suitable punishment in Irish law. The first recorded mutilation as a punishment for a crime is from 1224, where a robber had cut his hands and feet off. Of the Old Irish law texts none mentions mutilation, only Cáin Adomnáin (a Canon Law text) lays down a two-fold punishment which includes mutilation (cutting off of the left foot and the right hand) as the first part, the second part however is putting the culprit to death.
Flogging
Also a punishment very often used in many early law texts, especially as a punishment for slaves, flogging also appears only in Canon Law texts in Ireland. There is, however, no reference to it in the Secular Old Irish Law texts.
OUTLAWRY
A person may be deprived of his or her legal rights for a wide range of offenses. This kind of punishment appears in case of theft, for example, but also in case of “absconders” (élúdaig), i.e. persons that failed to fulfill their duties against society. The usual course of action taken by someone who is outlawed is to leave the territory of his tribe and become an exile (deorad). As far as we can say this was a banishment for life, there is no instance for any fixed period for the banishment, after which the culprit would be allowed to return.
Recovery of legal rights.
However, outlawry is not necessarily permanent. If the outlawed person later can atone for the crime - either by payment or otherwise - he can recover his rights in society.
With this, the treatment of Irish Law is finished. We will next proceed to Welsh Law, where, however, only the major similarities and differences to Irish Law will be shown. Consider everything not mentioned in the treatment of Welsh Law to either be not mentioned in the Welsh law texts or treated roughly similar to the equivalent Irish regulations.
Post a Comment