Brehon
Law Links 
Brehon
Law Links
Brehon Laws Compiled by Dan McClure, a small number of interesting selected laws, unfortunately without references to sources.
Dalriada Magazine Archives. Law & Society Section. Contains Brehon Laws, Part One and Part Two. Good overview essays with references.
Dalriada Celtic Heritage Trust Brehon Laws 'The Brehon Laws' Author: L. MacDonald 1993. Brief overview without references.
Gaelic Social Structure, by Patrick M. O'Shea. A short essay without references. Part of Uasal, an educational Source for Irish Nobility, Heraldry and Genealogy.
History of Land Tenure in Ireland, by Proinnsias Killeen, including 'Christianity and the Brehon Laws' and 'Land Tenure in the Brehon Laws.' Includes some interesting Irish sources.
Ireland 5th-10th Century CE; Fascinating information on ancient Irish dress codes, according to status, regulated by Brehon Laws. The basic elements of ancient Irish dress for people in the upper classes were the léine and the brat. These lasted, with variations over time, from the earliest recorded times down to the 16th century.
List Essay Brehon Law; Very comprehensive overview of ancient Celtic Laws of Ireland as well as other countries, From: Karl Raimund To listserv: CELTIC-L@DANANN.HEA.IE Subject: Celtic Law - a short summary - Part 1 - 12. Sun, 15 Dec 1996 - Tue, 21 Oct 1997
Poyning's Law This 1495 Act, applied to Ireland, the statutes lately made in England, and made Irish Parliament subservient to the English Crown.
The Descent of the Irish Celtic Kings, After the Flood, by Bill Cooper, Chapter 8. Good essay.
Tir na Nog. Brief essay on the Brehon Laws. Well worth the read.
Using Old Irish 'Brehon' Law in Pendragon, by Mike Maxwell. Excerpted from the work in progress "The Courts of King Arthur", Peter Corless, Editor. Written for future publication by the Chaosium.
CELT; Corpus of Electronic Texts Home of the electronic text conversion project underway. Essential site, published by U.C.C. (University College Cork), Ireland. An online resource for contemporary and historical Irish documents in literature, history and politics. The U.C.C. library has huge resources, so please look around. Some very prominent scholars in residence too.
Early Manuscripts at Oxford University A must see. Digital facsimiles of complete Celtic manuscripts, scanned directly from the originals. The project forms part of the Specialized Research Collections in the Humanities initiative supported by the Higher Education Funding bodies of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Henry Sumner Maine Full text of Lecture One: New Materials for the Early History of Institutions. Part of Lectures on the Early History of Institutions. John Murray Ltd. London, (1875) A landmark treatise.
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook Ancient Legal Texts Massive full text source of ancient law, except for Celtic. Fordham University project, dealing with Medieval Law, and laws of many ancient cultures. Still under construction as of June 1999 and little on Celtic Law so far, but looks promising and is certainly great for comparative purposes. There are many full text versions of classical texts. Maybe they need a suggestion too.
Medieval Sourcebook Full Text Sources Monster Site, great for comparative studies and hopefully some more Celtic soon, hosted by Fordham University in NYC.
Power of Truth This fragment is derived from the Book of Leinster, where a famous Brehon, Morann Mac Cairbre, leaves instructions for the High King, Feradach Finn Fachtnach (AD 95 - 117), in his will.
RBC Celtic Triads The ultimate compilation of Celtic Triads, compiled by John F. Wright, of Clannada.
Senchus Mor, Patrick and the Revision of The Ancient Irish Law, Chapter One from the essential book by Sophie Bryant. Liberty Order and Law - Under Native Irish Rule.
America Online, Members Links list of Medieval Celtic Manuscripts, full text sources. Some very good ones.
NetSERF The Internet Connection for Medieval Resources Over 1,000 links to all things Medieval on the Web. Very professionally done. Sponsored by the Department of History at The Catholic University of America
Antiquity Journal Index; An international journal of expert archaeology. Index to volumes 1-71 (1927-1997) available online. Though the Brehon Laws are not specifically mentioned in the Index, this is a huge resource for those willing to dig a little deeper. Certainly there is much Celtic history and a wealth of information on ancient, laws and customs of all lands.
Catholic Encyclopedia - Brehon Laws, Written by Douglas Hyde, author of A Literary History of Ireland (London, 1903) This is a very good account of the laws, as well as an invaluable insight into the times, around the turn of the century, when they were still recently rediscovered. Excellent sources cited also. There are simply hundreds of names, vital to Celtic history, and the thus the Brehon Laws, such as The Book of Kells, St. Brenach, St Brieuc (Briocus, Brioc, or Bru), Saint Brigid, written by Henry Grattan Flood, Torlogh O'Carolan (Toirdhealbhach O Cearbhalláin), Daniel O'Connell (excellent) Charles O'Conor, the "Venerable", scholar of Irish manuscripts, John O'Dugan Seághan "mor" O Dubhagáin, hereditary historian, and Eugene O'Growney a founder of the Gaelic League. As a footnote there is a piece on St. Lawrence O'Toole (Lorcan Ua TUATHAIL), (a distant relative of mine), who is being celebrated in Ireland this year as first native Archbishop of Dublin (Diocese Jubilee this year) He was taken as a hostage by Dermot McMurrogh, King of Leinster. In 1140 the boy obtained permission to enter the Celtic Abbey of Glendalough.
Old Irish and Early Christian Ireland A Basic Bibliography; Unbelievable resource, for all topics. Presented by Charles D. Wright, at Department of History,University of Kansas. No links though as originates from old list.
Bodleian Library The library itself is home to many manuscripts of Brehon Laws and Ancient Celtic Laws. An Image Catalogue is apparently under way...but not too many interesting results as far as Brehon law. Maybe they are just waiting for some suggestive emails expressing interest.
Burren College of Art - The Burren Law School, Friday April 30th - Sunday May 2nd 1999 Though the conference is past, the page gives the names of speakers, mostly Irish scholars from various disciplines, active in Brehon Law study. Mr. Greene who administers the program is very pleasant and helpful.
JANET Home Page The United Kingdom Research and Academic Network, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils for England (HEFCE), Scotland (SHEFC), Wales (HEFCW) and the Department of Education for Northern Ireland (DENI).
Trinity College Dublin - Law School Trinity is home of The Book of Kells, housed in The Long Room in the Old Library, one of the finest library buildings in the world. Like the Bodlein Library, a massive repository of Brehon Laws, that sadly has not yet delivered.
LarkSpirit Bookshop Great online source of Irish Government and Legal History books, as well as other interesting topics. Many links are in fact to Amazon.com and a search of Celtic Law there is also very worthwhile.
The Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy is the principal learned society in Ireland (I quote), founded in 1785 as a society for "promoting the study of science, polite literature and antiquities". Today, the Academy is at the centre of Irish educational life and, particularly through its National Committees, Research Projects, Library and Publications, it helps to coordinate scholarship on a cross-institutional, inter-disciplinary, national and international basis.
Nick Szabo -- History of Law and Governance Resources Great timeline links to legal resources covering law from Egypt, through Brehon Laws to Cyberspace. Organized by topic as well.
Old Ireland - History Elizabeth continues the Conquest; Part of a History of the Irish Race. Very well presented chronological history site, with a good deal of detail. Not much specifically on the laws, but good background. Lacks references too, for all its glossiness. Part of: ireland.org, a good general launching site.
Government of Ireland - Dept of Foreign Affairs - Embassy and Consular Services
Ireland.com - The Irish Times - FEATURES
Old Irish and Early Christian Ireland A Basic Bibliography
The Irish Parliamentary Tradition Oireachtais. The Irish Parliament Home Page
