CH. 6. COMMON LAW AMONG THE ANCIENT ... - Origin of Nations

native system till the age of the Vikings -- though the influence of Christianity should notbe discounted.In Ireland, a large number of ancient law tracts was preserved. Many of these go back toearly times. The Irish laws are probably the oldest surviving in Europe -- unaffected byRoman Law and the customs of the Mediterranean countries. The really ancient Irishcommunities served some of the functions of towns proper; being used as meeting-places,markets, or the like.An oenach or fair seems to have been attached to each true town of whatever size.Larger centres, such as Tell-town and Tara, held large annual fairs. Below the king,society was divided into three principal classes -- similar to the druides [or judges], theequites [or knights] and the plebs [or people] of Julius Caesar's Gaul. There were alsothe warrior aristocracy; the landowners; and the patrons of the arts. Such corresponded tothe equites.Of comparable social status were what we might terms the intelligentsia -- the aes dania[or professionals] who in Pre-Christian times and later included not only the druids butalso the bards, the jurists, the physicians, the historians, the artists and the craftsmen. Thethird class -- the equivalent of the plebs -- comprised the body of freemen, commoners,and peasants who formed the basis of society.The obligations and rights of each freeman within a Tuath or individual State, weredefined clearly and enforced by Customary Law. In Pre-Christian times, an importantfactor may very well have been the threat wielded by the druids -- the threat of virtuallyoutlawing a transgressor.In general, it appears that parties to legal disputes agreed in advance to accept the rules ofthe brithem alias the professional jurists. The surviving legal codes show clearly thatmost causes of dispute from murder downwards were provided with means of redress notby imprisonment but by some form of log n-erech or 'honour price.'The most striking feature of the native institutions of Ireland, is its system of fines. InIrish systems, privilege and responsibilities alike rested on the kindred -- which extendedfor four generations. Thus Professor Chadwick. Cf. Exodus 20:5; 21:22; 22:1.In Ireland, case laws were recorded in treatises written by jurists called brehons. By thetime of Christ's incarnation, maintains K. Neill,#185# the ancient law tracts distinguishedbetween no less than twenty-seven distinct classes of freemen. Yet rank depended onwealth as well as birth. It was possible to rise or fall in status -- depending upon one'stalents.The land-owning class was the foundation of Celtic society. The farmer of this periodwas called a boaire. He was, literally, a 'cattle man.'The Celtic legal tradition was very specific. It provided exact compensations for50