Project:Bibliography/Early Irish law/By year

From CODECS: Online Database and e-Resources for Celtic Studies
About

General and various

Polity, people and law

  • The túath
    • external relations
    • outsiders
  • Rural character
  • Rank and status
    • dependant status
    • unfree status (dóer)
  • The kin-group (fine)
    • maternal kin (máithre)

Law of persons (1)

  • king
  • lord and client
    • clientship; base client; free client; fuidir (semi-freeman); bothach; senchléithe
  • briugu (hospitaller)

Law of persons (2)

  • cleric
  • poet
    • female poet; illegal satirist
  • lawyer
    • brithem; aigne
  • physician
  • druid
  • manufacturers
    • wright; blacksmith; other

Law of persons (3)

  • woman
  • child
  • slave
  • captive (cimbid)

Property

Offences

Law texts

  • Comparative aspects
    • early Irish law and narrative
    • early Irish law and canon law
    • early Irish law and medieval Welsh law

Law schools

Glossary

Bibliography

Early Irish law
List of publications by year (in descending order)

Jaski, Bart, “Reconstructing Cáin Fhuithirbe”, Utrecht University website, Online: Utrecht University, 2005–.  
abstract:
The early Irish law tract Cáin Fhuithirbe (ca. 680) is preserved in five fragments which contain glossed excerpts of the original text. This article is a preliminary attempt to reconstruct, as far as possible, the sequence of the original text by comparing the five extant fragments. The reconstructed text is given without glosses, translation or analysis. In one manuscript version of the tract, TCD 1363 (olim H. 4. 22), a page is missing which has not been noted previously.
Academia.edu – 2017 version, with minor revisions: <link>
Charles-Edwards, T. M., Bretha comaithcheso, Early Irish Law Series, 9, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, School of Celtic Studies, 2022.  
abstract:

Bretha Comaithcheso, “Judgements on Neighbourhood”, is a tract forming part of the great law-book, Senchas Már, dating from c. 700. It expounds the law governing relations between neighbouring farmers, especially those who formed by contract a co-operative group. Already in the pre-Viking period it was attracting layers of comment, both glosses and a dossier of more extended texts that amplify or update or even contradict the main text. The result is a collection of material outstandingly rich among European texts on farming of a similar date.

Charles-Edwards, Thomas, “Early Irish law, St Patrick, and the date of the Senchas Már”, Ériu 71 (2021): 19–59.  
abstract:

Liam Breatnach’s Quiggin Lecture, The Early Irish law text Senchas Már and the question of its date, proposed that the Senchas Már was written in a single effort mounted by the church of Armagh within the date range c. 660 × c. 680. This revised and expanded version of a lecture given in 2017 accepts that there was a link between Armagh and the Senchas Már, sets the latter in the context of the written laws of Western Europe, 400–800, and investigates how the Senchas Már might have fitted into the sequence of seventh-century texts pertaining to Patrick. It also tackles two related issues: the relationship between evolving ideas of Irish nationality, the Patrician legend and the Senchas Már, and how one might bridge the gap between the Patrick of the saint’s own writings and conceptions of Patrick current in the seventh century.

Qiu, Fangzhe, “Law, law-books and tradition in early medieval Ireland”, in: Thom Gobbitt (ed.), Law / book / culture in the Middle Ages, 14, Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2021. 126–146.
Eska, Charlene M., “One thing leads to another: an Old Irish dialogue between Cormac and Coirpre on the legal consequences of seduction”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 5 (2021): 242–250.  
abstract:

This article provides a critical edition and translation of a dialogue between the mythical king, Cormac, and his son, Coirpre. In the first part, Coirpre confesses to raping a woman. Cormac asks why he did such a thing, and Coirpre’s excuses for his actions follow in a series of repetitive questions and answers. The second part of the dialogue is ascribed entirely to Cormac and forms his ‘instructions’ to his son. They describe the steps from flirtation to kissing to seduction to conception without resorting to violence. Cormac’s ‘instructions’ also touch upon the real legal consequences of begetting a child, whether by rape or consent.

Kelly, Fergus, The MacEgan legal treatise, Early Irish Law Series, 8, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, School of Celtic Studies, 2020.  
abstract:
This treatise is attributed to Giolla na Naomh Mac Aodhagáin (MacEgan), chief judge of the province of Connacht, who died in battle in 1309 alongside his king Aodh Ó Conchobhair (O'Conor). It is of special importance as it provides a professional lawyer's account of Irish ‘Brehon’ law in the period after the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169. The castle photographed here  [on the cover] is Redwood (Coillte Ruadha), Co. Tipperary, occupied from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries by descendants of Giolla na Naomh.
Murray, Kevin, “Córus bésgnai: a window on the medieval Irish church [Review artcle]”, Studia Hibernica 46 (2020): 135–143.
Houlihan, James W., Adomnán's Lex innocentium and the laws of war, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2020.  
abstract:
This book studies the Irish law dating from AD 697, called Lex Innocentium or the Law of the Innocents. It is also known as Cáin Adomnáin, being named after Adomnán (d. 704), ninth abbot of Iona, who was responsible for its drafting and promulgation. The law was designed to offer legislative protection for women, children, clerics and other non-arms-bearing people, primarily though not exclusively, in times of conflict. It will be of interest to historians, both professional and lay, in many fields, with special relevance for historians of warfare, the laws of war, and of attitudes towards violence in general. The study seeks to identify the place of this law in the history of the laws of war and, in so doing examines many of the relevant sources in the Christian West, with conclusions that some will find surprising.
Eska, Charlene M., A raven’s battle-cry: the limits of judgment in the medieval Irish legal tract Anfuigell, Medieval Law and Its Practice, 27, Leiden, New York: Brill, 2019.  
abstract:
In A raven’s battle-cry Charlene M. Eska presents a critical edition and translation of the previously unpublished medieval Irish legal tract Anfuigell. Although the Old Irish text itself is fragmentary, the copious accompanying commentaries provide a wealth of legal, historical, and linguistic information not found elsewhere in the medieval Irish legal corpus. Anfuigell contains a wide range of topics relating to the role of the judge in deciding difficult cases, including kingship, raiding, poets, shipwreck, marriage, fosterage, divorce, and contracts relating to land and livestock.
(source: Brill)
Hayden, Deborah, “The lexicon of pulmonary ailment in some medieval Irish medical texts”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 66 (2019): 105–130.  
abstract:
Le terme loch tuile ne se trouve pas dans les sources lexicographiques qui ont été publiées jusqu’à présent pour les langues gaéliques. Il est utilisé, cependant, pour faire référence à la maladie pulmonaire dans des manuscrits médicaux irlandais copiés pendant les quinzième et seizième siècles, dans un cas comme glose interlinéaire sur le texte juridique en vieil-irlandais connu sous le nom de Bretha Déin Chécht (‘Les jugements [du médecin mythologique] Dían Cécht’). Il s’agit dans cet article d’examiner quelques attestations de ce terme et de ses dérivés, en faisant appel à textes qui se trouvent dans quatre manuscrits différents. La discussion vise alors à élucider quelques aspects de la terminologie médicale gaélique pendant l’époque médiévale, et aussi à faire des observations préliminaires sur les liens qui auraient existé entre les manuscrits en question.
Eska, Charlene M., “The paleography of the 11 Latin citations in TCD MS 1337, pp. 329c–330b”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 3:1 (2019): 47–54.  
abstract:
This paper presents an edition and translation of the 11 Latin citations found in TCD MS 1337, pp. 329c–330b (CIH iii 847.8–36), and argues on paleographical grounds that it is possible to tell how the list of citations was constructed.
– Issue 1: <link> – Issue 2: <link>
McKibben, Sarah E., “Guaranteeing what cannot be guaranteed. Defending and adapting bardic patronage in Ag so an chomairce, a Chormaic (ca. 1585) by Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 2:1 (2018): 1–36.  
abstract:
This paper offers a historicized close reading of Ag so an chomairce, a Chormaic ‘Here is the guarantee, Cormac’ (ca. 1585) by Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn (ca. 1550–ca. 1591), a 27-quatrain appeal to loyalist Sligo lord Cormac Ó hEadhra to be the master-poet's guarantor under the legal mechanism of booking (a form of legal registration or recording of dependents or followers of a given lord). The paper argues that the poem richly repays close literary-critical attention of the kind not usually accorded bardic poetry, displaying a remarkable rhetorical and political artistry in its deeply traditional, yet simultaneously richly innovative, defense of the patronly relationship, the native nobility that upheld it, and the bardic institution itself, as all were under threat from the transformations wrought by the expanding Tudor state.
Mills, Kristen, “Glossing the glosses: the right marginal notes on glaidomuin and gudomhuin in TCD MS 1337”, Studia Celtica Fennica 15 (2018): 65–82.  
abstract:
This article examines marginal notes glossing two entries (glaidomuin and gudomhuin) in a legal glossary in TCD MS 1337. The entries in the glossary and the glosses in the upper margin connect these terms to a range of natural and supernatural beings (wolves, women of the síde, morrigna, infernal demons, demons of the air, scaldcrows, and foxes). This study considers the glosses in the right margin, which etymologize the lemmata as referring to the doubling of howls and voices. It is argued that this may refer to the phenomenon of the echo; furthermore, it is proposed that this interpretation may relate to a recurring image in prose literature, where supernatural beings screech in reply to a hero’s shouts or the sounds of battle. Finally, an association between echoes and the voices of demons in several late antique texts and the Vita Antonii is discussed.
Studia Celtica Fennica: <link>
Edel, Doris, “What did Ailill and Medb really quarrel about? A legal approach to the ‘Pillow Talk’”, in: Raimund Karl, and Katharina Möller (eds), Proceedings of the second European Symposium in Celtic Studies: held at Prifysgol Bangor University from July 31st to August 3rd 2017, Hagen/Westfalen: curach bhán, 2018. 131–140.
Eska, Charlene M., “A note on National Library of Sweden MS Vitterhet Engelsk II”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 2:1 (2018): 79–83.  
abstract:
The sixteenth-century manuscript in the National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, Vitterhet Engelsk II, consists of five vellum folios. The MS contains three main items written in Irish, the first two of which are literary, and a number of later notes on f. 5. The contents and provenance of the MS have been thoroughly described by Stern 1897 and Flower 1926: 323–325, the latter as a result of the fact that a photograph of the MS was made for Whitley Stokes in 1875. Stokes in turn gave the reproduction of the MS to the British Museum in 1897, where it is now BL MS Additional 35090. The purpose of this note is to comment on the scribe of the two literary texts, the glossator of the first literary text, and the legal judgment given at the end of the MS.
Hily, Gaël, “L’aubépine sans épines: une curiosité dans la procédure d’exécution du glám dícenn”, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 65 (2018): 123–134.  
abstract:
A gloss in the Old-Irish law-tract Uraicecht na Ríar states that the satire of glám dícenn takes place 'under the shade of a whitethorn, without any thorns on it'. As this kind of tree always bears thorns, the contents of this gloss seem curious. The aim of this paper is therefore to discuss its possible meaning, through an analysis of evidence elsewhere for glám dícenn and other satires and invectives, and also by a brief examination of the status of whitethorn in early medieval Ireland.
Rabin, Andrew, “Preventive law in early Ireland. Rereading the Additamenta in the Book of Armagh”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 2:1 (2018): 37–55.  
abstract:
This article argues that the so-called Additamenta, found on ff. 16r–18v of the Book of Armagh, may have functioned as a form of preventive law. Reading the Additamenta in this fashion suggests that the evidence they adduce to legitimize Armagh's property rights reflects those categories of claims thought most likely to prevail should the foundation's landholdings fall into dispute. As an archive of documents that both preserved and shaped institutional memory, they provided a historical frame that limited the possibility of challenges to Armagh's standing or, if those challenges did come to trial, shaped the court's perception to the foundation's benefit. Consequently, even if these documents do not necessarily reflect an ongoing charter tradition, we may still use them as case studies revealing one way in which early Irish landowners—especially those associated with ecclesiastical foundations like Armagh—utilized text and narrative to influence the progress of legal disputes.
Doolan, Riona, “Marginalia, incorporated commentaries or reference commentaries: the terminology of later legal sources”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Fír fesso: a festschrift for Neil McLeod, 17, Sydney: University of Sydney, 2018. 87–96.
Taylor-Griffiths, Alice R., “Gúbretha Caratniad: agreement and disagreement in the classroom”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 2:2 (2018): 105–132.  
abstract:
Gúbretha Caratniad ‘The false judgements of Caratnia’ is an unusual and understudied early Irish legal text. In its fullest form, it is divided into two distinct sections: a short, but complex, prologue, which establishes Caratnia as judge to Conn of the Hundred Battles; and a collection of 51 exchanges between Caratnia and Conn. The prologue describes Caratnia as a liability who would be redundant as a judge. In the second section of the text, however, Caratnia's ingenuity as a judge becomes clear. In every exchange, Caratnia begins by giving a judgement which is ostensibly incorrect; he is challenged by Conn, who accuses him of judging falsely. In each case, Caratnia proves why he is correct by citing exceptions to established legal rules. It is rare to make exceptions the focus of a text, yet the comprehensive nature of the glossing reflects a text which was used alongside the wider corpus of early Irish legal material. It is one of a handful of extant Irish law texts, such as Anfuigell and Recholl breth, to cover a broad range of topics which appear to have no connection to one another, other than being an exception to the rule. The aim of this paper is to explore Gúbretha Caratniad as a text for teaching, and, in particular, for teaching how a law student should think about the law, rather than simply know the law.
Breatnach, Liam, Córus bésgnai: an Old Irish law tract on the church and society, Early Irish Law Series, 7, Dublin: School of Celtic Studies, DIAS, 2017. xii + 346 pp.  
abstract:
Córus bésgnai, a component tract of the Old Irish law text Senchas Már, is an important source text for the Church in early mediaeval Ireland. This book consists of annotated editions and translations of the Old Irish text as well as the later mediaeval glosses and commentaries. It should be of use to those interested not only in early mediaeval Ireland, but also in the early mediaeval Western Church.
OʼDonnell, Thomas C., “The affect of fosterage in medieval Ireland”, PhD dissertation, University College London, 2017.  
abstract:
In this thesis I will reconstruct the emotional community created by fosterage: mark out its boundaries; describe its construction; and show how the deep love expressed by poets and characters in the saga literature for their foster-family under-pinned medieval Irish society. As I recreate the emotional community of fosterage, we see that fosterage bonds are created outside the legal framework, through providing nutrition, education, and sharing experience. In order to fully understand medieval Irish fosterage, we need to understand fosterage for love as well as for a fee. The emotional community of fosterage is recreated via a number of case studies, based on relationships within the foster family.

The first chapter examines the foster father/fosterling relationship through the figure of Cú Chulainn and questions the received picture of multiple fosterage. The foster-mother relationship is the focus of the second chapter, in their role of mourning dead fosterlings and acting as guardian of memory.
The third chapter asks the question who is a foster-sibling and examines the boundaries of the fosterage terminology. The language is particularly fluid in the fíanaigecht literature.
The final chapters examine fosterage outside the foster family. Fosterage was employed as a metaphor in religious writings and chapter four analyses this metaphor to understand both the experience of the divine and the position of children in monasteries.
Chapter five turns to fosterage between humans and animals, extended the metaphoric use of fosterage seen in earlier chapters.

Looking at fosterage in this unusual setting makes the assumptions about the emotional ties it creates easier to address. Fosterage bonds were created by nurturing, educating and sharing experience and lasted throughout the participants lives. In order to appreciate the impact fosterage had on medieval Irish society we must appreciate the affective bonds it created and the affective way it was created.
– PDF: <link>
OʼNeill, Pamela, “Old Irish muirchrech ‘sea-boundary’”, Ériu 67 (2017): 1–9.  
abstract:

The Old Irish word muirchrech (also murchrech and muirchreth) is found in law texts where it refers to the distance out to sea at which certain offenders are to be placed in a boat and left to the dictates of wind and tide. Uses of the word in literary texts either reflect this legal scenario or imply a convention of diplomatic protection within a muirchrech of a ruler's territorial lands. Although this general use of the term is clear, there has not yet been any agreement as to the literal meaning of muirchrech, or the actual distance referred to. This article sets out to explore possible literal meanings of muirchrech.

Qiu, Fangzhe, “The Ulster Cycle in the law tracts”, in: Mícheál B. Ó Mainnín, and Gregory Toner (eds), Ulidia 4: proceedings of the fourth international conference on the Ulster Cycle of tales, Queen's University Belfast, 27-9 June, 2013, Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2017. 9–22.
Eska, Charlene M., “A medieval Irish legal commentary on wakes and funerals from Anfuigell ‘Wrong judgment’”, North American Journal of Celtic Studies 1:1 (May, 2017): 27–44.  
abstract:
The medieval Irish legal text Anfuigell ‘Wrong judgment’ is extant in seven main fragments found in five different manuscripts now housed in Dublin, London, and Oxford. Although the text itself is not complete, taking into account the accompanying legal commentary and glosses surrounding the text, Anfuigell and its associated legal material amount to one of the largest bodies of legal matter in the entire corpus of attested medieval Irish law. This text has never been edited and lacks a modern translation and, as such, it constitutes a legal mystery box for scholars. Anfuigell treats a variety of legal topics. One of the text's legal commentaries deals with injuries sustained and illnesses contracted at funerals. This particular aspect of the early Irish legal system has never been discussed by scholars. This article presents an edition and translation of the short legal commentary and discusses how the legal precepts illustrated by the commentary fit within and add to our current knowledge of the laws surrounding injuries and illness. The legal material also contributes to our understanding of medieval mourning practices, including some of the activities which took place at funerals and wakes.
Quinn, Paul, “Bretha comaithchesa: a comparative analysis of the manuscript witnesses”, Celtica 28 (2016): 123–150.
McInerney, Luke, “The Síol Fhlannchadha of Tradraighe, Co. Clare: brehon lawyers of the Gaelic tradition”, Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies 9 (2016): 19–54.  
abstract:
The Meic Fhlannchadha were an important brehon family of the classical Gaelic tradition. As brehon lawyers, they held a privileged position in Gaelic society. Their learning and practice in matters of native law conferred respect and value to them as learned men and scholars. The Meic Fhlannchadha were distinguished in native law and judgements and they produced generations of “law ollamhs” who rendered professional services to Gaelic and Anglo-Irish lords from the fifteenth century. By the time of the collapse of the Gaelic system and its institutions of law in the seventeenth century, the Meic Fhlannchadha used their social position as a means of negotiating the transition toward Anglicization.
Eska, Charlene M., “The abbreviation s.d. and patterns of ascription in the Corpus Iuris Hibernici”, Études Celtiques 42 (2016): 161–184.  
abstract:
[FR] L’abréviation s.d. et la typologie des indications de sources dans le Corpus Iuris Hibernici. Cet article étudie l’utilisation de l’abréviation s.d. telle qu’elle apparaît dans divers textes de loi irlandais anciens – comme ceux imprimés dans le Corpus Iuris Hibernici – et compare cette abréviation, du point de vue du contexte et de l’emploi aux autres formes d’abréviation utilisées dans les manuscrits juridiques irlandais. Les constantes qui apparaissent dans l’emploi de l’abréviation conduisent à supposer qu’elle renvoie au nom d’un manuscrit de droit, associé peut-être à la famille des MacEgan et dont on peut partiellement reconstituer le contenu.

[EN] This paper examines the use of the abbreviation s.d. as it appears in various early Irish law tracts as printed in the Corpus Iuris Hibernici and compares its context and use to that of other forms of abbreviations used in Irish legal manuscripts. The pattern that emerges from the evidence of the abbreviation’s context and use suggests that the abbreviation stands for the title of a legal manuscript, perhaps associated with the MacEgan family, for which the contents may be partially reconstructed.
Persée – Études Celtiques, vol. 42, 2016: <link>
Bemmer, Jaqueline, and T. M. Charles-Edwards, “Irish and Welsh law in the European contexts”, Clio@Themis 10 (2016). URL: <http://www.cliothemis.com/Irish-and-Welsh-Law-in-the>. 
abstract:
This paper traces the relationship of the Roman Empire with Ireland and Wales from roughly the fifth to the seventh centuries and probes the role that Roman and Canon law played there following the events of 410, based on evidence from authors, such as Prosper of Aquitaine, Venantius Fortunatus, Zosimus and Gildas, as well as the vernacular legal traditions. This approach allows us to investigate perceptions of legal identity in Post-Roman Britain and the echoes of Latin learning embraced in Ireland.
Bemmer, Jaqueline, “The early Irish hostage surety and inter-territorial alliances”, Historical Research 89:244 (May, 2016): 191–207.  
abstract:
This article examines the legal evidence on treaty law in early medieval Ireland, focusing on fragments from the lost law text Bretha cairdi (Treaty judgements) and the short text Slán n-aitire cairde (The Immunity of a Hostage-Surety in a Treaty). It aims to examine the ways in which jurists faced cross-border violence and to look at how law was used to forge a political alliance in extending legal allowances and duties beyond the frontier, and so permit designated enforcers from both sides to collaborate in the quest for legal satisfaction and social stability.
(source: article)
Eska, Charlene M., “On the swearing of oaths in cemeteries”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 71 (Summer, 2016): 51–67.
Archan, Christophe, “The five paths to a judge: an interpretation of Cóic conara fugill (Five paths to judgement)”, Clio@Themis 10 (2016). URL: <http://www.cliothemis.com/The-five-paths-to-a-judge-an>. 
abstract:
This interpretation offers an analysis based on the Small Primer (Uraicecht Becc), a text which may come from the same school as Cóic Conara Fugill. A passage from that tract about social ranks notably presents a hierarchy of three judges, who seem to correspond to the first three procedures of the Five Paths of Judgement. The choice of the right procedure would then actually be the choice of the right judge. A first block of three paths would then be distinguished, to which a second block of two paths would then be added.
Stacey, Robin Chapman, “Further musings on the ‘Celtic’ in ‘Celtic law’ [2015 Farrell Lecture]”, Eolas: The Journal of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies 9 (2016): 55–76.  
abstract:
This paper takes its cue from recent debates over the helpfulness (or not) of the term “Celtic” to our understanding of non-linguistic cultural parallels amongst the peoples represented in the medieval records of Ireland and Wales. It focuses on one area of potential overlap, the categorization and expression of legal knowledge: specifically, how Irish and Welsh law was organized, preserved, and presented, and how similar modes of preserving and disseminating legal knowledge really were (or were not) between these two main “Celtic” traditions.
Archan, Christophe, “Uraicecht becc et les triades du droit: les juges et leurs sources dans l’Irlande médiévale”, in: Guillaume Oudaer, Gaël Hily, and Hervé Le Bihan (eds), Mélanges en l’honneur de Pierre-Yves Lambert, Rennes: TIR, 2015. 359–375.
Qiu, Fangzhe, “Manuscript contexts of early Irish law tracts: a case study on Uraicecht becc”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 35 (2015): 150–171.
Stacey, Robin Chapman, “Ancient Irish law revisited: rereading the laws of status and franchise”, in: Katja Ritari, and Alexandra Bergholm (eds), Understanding Celtic religion: revisiting the pagan past, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2015. 99–120.
McLeod, Neil, “Irish law and the wars of the Túatha Dé Danann”, in: Liam Breatnach, Ruairí Ó hUiginn, Damian McManus, and Katharine Simms (eds), Proceedings of the XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies, held in Maynooth University, 1–5 August 2011, Dublin: School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2015. 75–94.
Peters, Cherie N., “‘He is not entitled to butter’: the diet of peasants and commoners in early medieval Ireland”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 115 C (2015): 79–109.  
abstract:
Hospitality was an important part of early medieval Irish culture and one of the ways this was expressed was through the preparation of meals for guests. Old and Middle Irish law tracts, written mainly in the seventh and eighth centuries, described the types of foods to which each level of free society in early medieval Ireland was entitled during these social visits and, as can be seen from the quotation in the title of this paper, certain restrictions based on grade and status applied. The legal entitlements of commoners to vegetables, dairy products, breads and, on the rare occasion, meats while in another person's home was neither the full range of foods available in early medieval Ireland nor the totality of the foods an individual might consume in their own home or during feasts. An investigation into these law tracts as well as Old and Middle Irish sagas, poetry, other literary compositions and ecclesiastical descriptions of a penitential or hermetic diet suggest a wider range of available foods, including fruits, fish and wild game that both peasants and commoners were likely to have consumed on a seasonal basis.
Kelly, Fergus, “Whodunnit? Indirect evidence in early Irish law”, Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 35 (2015): 1–17.
Kelly, Fergus, Marriage disputes: a fragmentary Old Irish law-text, Early Irish Law Series, 6, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, School of Celtic Studies, 2014.
McLeod, Neil, “Cid ara n-eperr Críth gablach?”, The Australian Celtic Journal 12 (2014): 41–50.
Breatnach, Liam, “Forms of payment in the early Irish law tracts”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 68 (Winter, 2014): 1–20.
Raae, Hanne-Mette Alsos, “The legal implications of the banchomarbae”, Studia Celtica Fennica 11 (2014): 67–81.  
abstract:
The general rule regarding women and property in early Irish law is that a woman is not allowed to own or deal with land except for her obligations through marriage. However, if a man died in default of sons, his daughter was entitled to a life-interest in the land, and was considered the rightful owner of this land until she died. The legal situation of the banchomarbae, 'female heir', was therefore quite different from a woman's normal legal situation. This article offers a detailed analysis of the legal implications of a woman being considered the rightful owner of land, and how this would affect her legal standing and contractual capacity in early Irish society.
Studia Celtica Fennica: <link>
Archan, Christophe, “La résolution des conflits de normes enseignée dans les écoles de l’Irlande mediévale”, Savoirs en Prisme 3 (2014). URL: <https://savoirsenprisme.wordpress.com/numeros/n03-2014/archan/>.
Charles-Edwards, T. M., “The manuscript transmission of Bretha comaithchesa”, in: Elizabeth Boyle, and Deborah Hayden (eds), Authorities and adaptations: the reworking and transmission of textual sources in medieval Ireland, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 2014. 95–120.
Doolan, Riona, “Reflecting a local economy? Evidence from Coibnes uisci thairidne”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 41–64.
Ahlqvist, Anders, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, Sydney Series in Celtic Studies, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013.
Grigg, Juliana, “The nemed, Uraicecht becc and early Irish governance”, in: Pamela OʼNeill (ed.), The land beneath the sea: essays in honour of Anders Ahlqvist’s contribution to Celtic studies in Australia, 14, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 87–100.
Bemmer, Jaqueline, “The types of pledges in medieval Irish law: form, function and context”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 3–23.
Ahlqvist, Anders, “Old Irish airaiccecht ‘primer, etc.’”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 221–236.
McLeod, Neil, “The lord of slaughter”, in: Pamela OʼNeill (ed.), The land beneath the sea: essays in honour of Anders Ahlqvist’s contribution to Celtic studies in Australia, 14, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 101–114.
Qiu, Fangzhe, “Narratives in early Irish law: a typological study”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 111–141.
Causbrook, Timothy, “Norse loanwords and the dating of early Irish texts”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 209–220.
McLeod, Neil, “Ón and airliciud: loans in medieval Irish law”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Celts and their cultures at home and abroad: a Festschrift for Malcolm Broun, 15, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 169–196.
McLeod, Neil, “The distribution of body-fine: AD 650–1150”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 65–109.
OʼNeill, Pamela, “Control of the means of production in early Irish law”, Studia Celtica Fennica 10 (2013): 81–89.  
abstract:
This paper presents a preliminary survey of the evidence presented by early Irish law for changes in the control of the means of production in early medieval Ireland. It tests the hypothesis that early Irish law texts provide evidence that the control of the means of production changed over time. References in law texts to such technological equipment as mills, ploughing equipment and other crucial equipment for the transformation of resources and raw materials into consumable goods are examined, and compared to evidence from archaeology and other historical sources. The paper proposes that what law texts tell us about which social classes or groups exercised effective control over this equipment has the potential to contribute to a discussion of how the social structure of medieval Ireland changed and developed over time. This research was supported under the Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects funding scheme (project number DP120103684).
– PDFs: <link>
Stifter, David, “Towards the linguistic dating of early Irish law texts”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 163–208.
OʼNeill, Pamela, “Material culture and social development in early Irish law texts”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 143–159.
Archan, Christophe, “Les règles de droit dans la prose du Dindshenchas de Rennes”, Droit et Cultures 64:2 (2013–): 91–113. URL: <https://journals.openedition.org/droitcultures/2809>. 
Online since 08 January 2013.
Qiu, Fangzhe, “Wandering cows and obscure words: a rimeless poem from legal manuscripts and beyond”, Studia Celtica Fennica 10 (2013): 91–111.  
abstract:
An Old Irish rimeless poem recording a verdict by the legendary judge Fachtna is found in manuscripts that represent various textual traditions. It is cited in a gloss to early Irish laws and commentary to Amra Coluim Chille, and in two lemmata in Sanas Cormaic. This paper provides a critical edition of the poem, and considers it together with the accompanying narrative prose and verses in the textual environments, in order to illustrate the complex relationship between these textual traditions. The discussion may further our understanding of the intellectual background of the medieval literati and the growth of medieval Irish law tracts.
– PDFs: <link>
Alsos Raae, Hanne-Mette, “Aspects of athgabál aile”, in: Anders Ahlqvist, and Pamela OʼNeill (eds), Medieval Irish law: text and context, 12, Sydney: Celtic Studies Foundation, University of Sydney, 2013. 25–40.

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