Celtic Law : A Short Summary
Filed by Aine MacDermot
OLD CELTIC LAW
This is probably the hardest part of the whole series, as, in fact, almost nothing from old Celtic Law has come down to us.
SOURCES
The sources for old Celtic Law are limited to a mere few short notices in (mainly) Caesar, a handful of Celt-Iberian and Gaulish inscriptions and a few hints in names and titles that have come down to us either via archaeological remains (like pottery inscriptions) or, too, are found in the historians.
Probably the most direct hints at old Celtic Law, apart from the famous Caesar quote about the druids in their function as judges: “In all public and private quarrels the priests alone judge and decide. They fix punishments and rewards, where crimes or murder have been committed or boundary and inheritance disputes arise. If a private person or persons fail to respect their decision they can exclude the men involved (where need be, the whole tribe) from public worship. This is for them the worst punishment imaginable. Those thus excommunicated count as godless criminals; all men must avoid them and eschew any talk with them, lest the infection be passed on. If they try to get in touch with them, they forfeit justice and honour.”(Caesar, De Bello Gallico VI, 13.5) is another passage in the description of Gaul, “When a man marries, he adds to the dowry that his wife brings with her a portion of his own property estimated to be of equal value. A joint account is kept of the whole amount, and the profits which it earns are put aside. Whoever survives the other gets the whole property and the profits that were put aside.” (Caesar, DBG VI, 19.1-2) and the first Botorrita Inscription, a relatively long Celtiberian inscription dealing with the possessions of a temple, as translated by Meid (Archaeolingua Series Minor 5): “Concerning the ‘hilly’ region of Tocoit- and Sarnicios it has been thus decreed as non-permitted: Neither is it permitted to put (things) upon, nor is it permitted to perform work, nor is it permitted to cause damage by destruction. And whoever wishes to perform such things should take … cut up (coined?) silver, that is 100 units, to deposit at (the temple of) Tocoit-. And whosoever wishes to construct a cow-shed, a corral (ß), a walled enclosure or a shelter should buid (’cut out’) a way (of access). If he cuts out (earth) for the purpose of construction, he shall remove these (materials) within three days (?) out of the enclosure; into the territory of Neitos he shall transport them. For whom they sow arable land, to him - when they cut the crops, when the custaicos brings in the crops, whatever (howmuchever) he should cut outside or inside (the enclosure) - of these he shall give the amounts constituting the tithe. In this inner area neither ancios nor esancios (neither enclosed nor open land) outside of (or apart from) the land adjacent to Sarnicios shall be harvested by the people of Acaina. Who wishes to utilize pasture land or arable land at Tocoit-, shall give the dekameta (the tithe). This, at the cult feast of Tocoit- and Sarnicios, we proclaim, truly and holily, (namely I), Ablu Ubocum, the regens of the council (and the following persons), (list of names).”.
Apart from these longer notes, the rest is limited to short sentences or even single words, which however give as titles of magistrates sometimes from which certain functions (which had to have some sort of legal background) can be derived, like the street-controller or the silver-controller.
Therefore, most elements of old Celtic Law are, at best, reconstructable from the Irish and Welsh Laws and their similarities, especially where those similarities are on a linguistic basis that shows that the terms for certain legal things were derived from a common Gaulish word. Such things can be found, for instance, in the terms for co-ploughing and for distraint.
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