Gaelic law
Subtitle: the Berla laws
By: or, The ancient Irish common law, by M. J. Macauliffe
Series: 20th-century legal treatises -- fiches 37,275-37,276; Making of modern law
Publisher: Hodges, Figgis, & Co.
Published: 1925
Place of publication: Dublin
Language: eng
Number of pages: 117
Subjects: Law; Common law; Celtic Law; Book of Aicill
Other titles: Berla laws.; Ancient Irish common law.; Irish common law, The ancient.
Work titles: Book of Aicill
Notes: King Cormac mac Art during his retirement at Aicill, enunciated a certain number of legal precepts, which had been handed down from the most ancient times by the poets, in the Berla, or poetic dialect. As a result, the Book of Aicill was composed, consisting of fourteen articles, including "The exemptions" in its original form. A new treatise, consisting of ten chapters, was added to the old textbok by Cennfaeladh, 642 A. D., and he also probably re-edited the entire work. A final revision was made by an unknown lawyer in the eighth or ninth century. The Book of Aicill contains the ancient Irish common law altered and amended in many respects, not only by the "new knowledge", which introduced many new rulings and new judgments, but more especially by the codes which had from time to time been promulgated, the most important of which was the code or Cain law of St. Patrick, also known as the Senchus Mor. cf. Introd.

"In bringing this little work before the public, the writer has endeavoured to put into an intelligible shape the disjointed and often contradictory text which constitutes the Book of Aicill, and which, thanks to the labours of O'Donovan and O'Curry, has been produced and translated in its original form."--Pref. cf. also Ancient laws of Ireland ... vol. III. Dublin, l873.

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