Celtic Law : A Short Summary
Filed by Aine MacDermot
WELSH LAW
Welsh Law has been, in the form it has come down to us, taken down in the first half of the 10th century AD in a single codex authorised by one of the more successful independent Welsh rulers, King Hywel Dda mab Cadell (Hywel the Good, son of Cadell), at least that is what history claims. However, most of the laws included in Cyfraith Hywel, the “Laws of Hywel”, were not made by Hywel, but were rather a compilation and unification of the old Welsh laws as interpreted by the professional Welsh lawyers, called ynad or brawdwr. The real role of Hywel probably was that he was responsible for the first written legal codex in Wales, which according to legend, happened at the Abbey in Whitland (btw, I have been to Whitland recently, they have a little Hywel Dda presentation centre which is definitely NOT worth visiting) at a jurists conference under Hywel.
One of the most significant differences to Irish Law is that Welsh Law has been taken down much later, and that it already shows strong influences of early medieval Anglosaxon laws. While the basic concepts of law are almost equal to Irish Law, some specifics are quite different.
SOURCES
The main sources for the Welsh Laws are the Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch, the “White Book of Rhydderch” and the “LLyfr y Damweiniau”, and some “smaller” works, all dating from the 13th to 16th century.
A translation of the Laws of Hywel is also available and recommendable, which also includes a literature list for further readings. it is: D.Jenkins: The Law of Hywel Dda. Law texts from medieval Wales. Welsh Classics, Gomer 1986 (2nd ed. 1990), ISBN 0 86383 277 6.
THE LAWS OF HYWEL DDA
The Laws of Hywel are separated in three parts, the first of which is the Laws of Court, the second the Laws of the Country and the third the Justices’ Test Book.
THE LAWS OF THE COURT
Here we see the strongest differences to Irish Law. In Hywel’s Laws there are detailed Laws in regard to the King’s Court, which show strong influence from the Anglosaxon Laws.
First is dealt with the honour-price, “sarhaed” in Welsh, of king and queen. Then comes a series of laws regarding the rights and duties of members of a royal court, starting with the heir-appartent, the Edling. Here we already see the influence of Anglosaxon Laws, as the legal term used is “Edling”, derived from the Anglosaxon “aetheling” in contrast to the original Welsh “gwrthrychiad”, the “heir-apparent”, a term more or less paralleled in Irish “tánaise”.
In between the order of the court is laid out, how many people are allowed to be seated and where which person is allowed to sit. The order of the court is as follows: the king, next to him the cynghellor, then the host, then the edling, then the chief falconer and finally the physician, while on the other side sit the priest of the household, the usher, the court justice, and finally the court smith. On the lower hand of the hall sits the Captain of the household, with the bard of the household at one side of him. Finally the chief groom and the chief huntsman sit across the screen from king and priest.
Then the rights and duties of the rest of the Court are detailed, starting with the king’s officers, which are, in descending order in regard to rank: The Captain of the Household, the Priest of the Household, the Steward, the Chief Falconer, the Court Justice, the Chamberlain, the Bard of the Household, the Usher, the Chief Huntsman, the Mead-brewer, the Physician, the Butler, the Doorkeeper, the Cook and the Candleman.
Then come the queen’s officers, once again with rights and duties, starting with the Queen’s Steward, then the Queen’s Priest, the Queen’s Chief Groom, the Queen’s Chamberlain, the Queen’s Handmaid, the Queen’s Doorkeeper, the Queen’s Cook and the Queen’s Candleman.
Additionally to the above officers, which are considered “court officers”, are another some, which are in court as well, but are not considered “court officers”. These are also detailed, with their rights and duties. They are the Groom of the Rein, The Footholder, the Dung Maer, the Serjeant, the Porter, the Watchman, the Bakeress, the Court Smith, the Pencerdd and finally the Laundress. As such, Court Positions, the rights and duties of Court officials and the general details of Court we have from Welsh Law are much more detailed than anything we have from Irish Law. All in all, the Welsh Court looks a lot more like medieval courts than anything we have from Ireland, definitely a result from the later date and the stronger Anglosaxon influence on the Welsh Laws.
Also, the increased importance of the King and his Court in Welsh Law becomes apparent wehn we look at certain privileges of the King and his Court, which go a good deal beyond everything we know from Irish Law, and which probably also consitute the most important difference between Welsh and Irish Law. For instance, in stark contrast to Irish law, where penalties due because of illegal acts and following judgment in court were payable only to the victim or his kindred, in Welsh law most offenses against the Law not only invoke a penalty payable to the injured party but also a penalty payable to the king, which in most cases would be much more than the actual penalty paid to the offended party.
The rights of the king and his court were also increased in other fields of law. For instance, Welsh Law allows the king and his Court to ride through a field without having to pay compensation either for the violation of the property or any damage caused. Also, some animals are considered to be “king’s game” and may only be hunted by the king or his court officials. All of this strongly shows the influence of a more “medievalised” society in Wales at the time when the laws were taken down, with very immediate and strong Anglo-Saxon influences.
THE LAWS OF THE COUNTRY
With this part we come back to solid Celtic Law. Even though the rights and privileges of the Court are part of this part to some extent, too, here we find clear parallels to Irish Laws.
The Laws of the Country include the Laws of Women (more or less marriage and divorce), the validity of oaths, injury to animals, surety (w. “Mach”) and contracts (w. briduw, amod), church protection, land law (inheriting, aqquiring and reclaiming, sharing, Women and Land), laws on aliens, then again come some royal rights and finally family law. All of those laws, with the exception of the part on royal rights, but even parts of these, are very similar to the comparable Irish regulations in those fields. Variations exist only at the level of detail.
THE JUSTICES’ TEST BOOK
The third part deals with legal procedure and punishments for offenses against life, health or property. It contains regulations in regard to homicide, theft, fire, the value of wild and tame animals, the value of trees, houses and equipment, the value of the human body and parts of it (for compensation of damage), contains regulations on joint ploughing and finally on corn damage. All of those regulations also parallel the Irish Laws in the respective areas, thereby giving us a good basis for finding out “common Celtic” legal elements.
Having finished Welsh Law, we now turn to the last part, Old Celtic Law.
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