Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Early Irish law, [1] also called Brehon law (from the old Irish word breithim meaning judge [2]), comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland. They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion of 1169, but underwent a resurgence from the 13th until the 17th century, over the majority of the island, and ...
Much of it repeated traditional Irish laws. Although Irish society under the Brehon Laws was male-dominated, women had greater freedom, independence and rights to property than in other European societies of the time. Men and women held their property separately. The marriage laws were very complex.
In the Brehon Law manuscript Bretha Comaithchesa or "Laws of the Neighbourhood" it describes the earliest constructed Christian church in Ireland as being referred to as a Dairthech or oak church in English, County Kildare derives its name from one of these Churches, also the Kil or Cill in its name has two meanings both church and woodland, in ...
The Brehon Laws governed everyday life and politics in Ireland until the Norman invasion of 1171 (the word "Brehon" is an Anglicisation of breitheamh (earlier brithem), the Irish word for a judge). The laws were written in the Old Irish period (ca. 600–900 AD) and probably reflect the traditional laws of pre-Christian Ireland.
The Law of the Couple: translation of an Irish legal text on marriage; Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies – School of Celtic Studies Catalogue of relevant publications; Solarguard Brehon Precis of Fergus Kelly's A Guide to Early Irish Law; The Brehon Laws – Catholic Encyclopedia article
The Brehon Laws were a relatively sophisticated early Irish legal system, the practice of which was only finally wiped out during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The Brehon laws were a civil legal system only – there was no criminal law. Acts that would today be considered criminal were then dealt with in a similar manner to tort law ...
Under Brehon law, rather than inheriting land, daughters had assigned to them a certain number of their father's cattle as their marriage-portion. [30] [31] It seems that, throughout the Middle Ages, the Gaelic Irish kept many of their marriage laws and traditions separate from those of the Church. [33]
Regular canon law tended to be limited to the areas under central Norman control. The traditional Irish legal system, the "Brehon Law", continued in areas outside central control, but the Normans introduced Henry II's reforms including new concepts such as prisons for criminals. The Brehon system was typical of other north European customary ...