The Senchas Már, meaning “the Great Tradition” or “the Great Old Knowledge” is the largest and most important single collection of early Irish law, a vast compilation of legal texts covering virtually every aspect of the social, economic and political life of early medieval Ireland, and one of the most remarkable legal documents to survive from the ancient world. According to tradition it was compiled in the fifth century at the instigation of Saint Patrick himself, who worked together with the poet Dubthach maccu Lugair and the king Loegaire mac Néill to reconcile the ancient customary law of Ireland with the new demands of Christianity purging whatever was incompatible with the faith while preserving the rest. Whether or not this foundation legend is historically accurate, it reflects a genuine truth about the Senchas Már it represents a profound synthesis of pre-Christian legal tradition and Christian moral theology, written in an archaic legal Irish of extraordinary difficulty that even medieval commentators found challenging and required extensive glossing and explanation. The collection is organized into a series of individual law texts each dealing with a specific area Críth Gablach on social ranks and their obligations, Cáin Lánamna on the law of marriage and sexual relations, Cáin Aicillne on clientship and the obligations between lord and tenant, Bretha Crólige on sick-maintenance and the legal obligations to care for the injured each one a world of social detail and philosophical sophistication that reveals a society of extraordinary legal complexity and refinement.
What makes the Brehon law tradition as a whole of which the Senchas Már is the crown so astonishing is the philosophical depth and human sensitivity that permeates even its most technical provisions. The entire system rests on the foundational concept of fír, truth and its social expression in córus, proper order, the idea that a just and well-ordered society is one in which every person occupies their rightful place, fulfills their rightful obligations, and receives their rightful due. The law texts are saturated with a restorative rather than punitive philosophy the goal of legal remedy is not to punish the wrongdoer but to restore the injured party to wholeness and to repair the fabric of social relationships that the wrong has torn.
This extends to remarkably progressive provisions the Cáin Adomnáin or Law of the Innocents of 697 AD, attributed to the abbess of Iona, is one of the earliest documents in world history to legally protect women and non-combatants from the violence of warfare. The law texts also reveal the extraordinary status and legal complexity surrounding the filid, the poets whose rights, obligations, travel entitlements, and honor-prices are specified with a precision that underscores just how central they were to the entire social order. Tragically the Brehon law tradition was systematically suppressed and ultimately destroyed by English colonial policy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries declared incompatible with English common law and forcibly abolished so that what survives does so only in manuscripts that were preserved by devoted scholars against enormous odds and much has certainly been lost forever. What remains however is enough to reveal a legal civilization of genuine greatness, humane, subtle, philosophically sophisticated, and deeply rooted in a vision of society as an organic web of mutual obligation in which every living being, from the highest king to the lowest bondsman, had rights that the law was bound to protect.
| Adeirim nach dein eisinraic | |
| Aderim gurab uaisle an comarba saorda | |
| Advice to Doidin | |
| Aer Tract | |
| Antéchtae Breth | |
| Archaic legal poem | |
| Ata fasta 7 taithmech | |
| Ataim da foillsiugh | |
| Ataim da radh gurab .uii. cumala coirpdiri | |
| Bal beg dh’fastad breithe | |
| Bechbretha | |
| Berrad Airechta | |
| Bóslechtae | |
| Bésgnae Ráithe | |
| Bóshlechta | Cow-sections |
| Breth gin dilsi gin arach | |
| Bretha Cairdi | |
| Bretha Cairdu | |
| Bretha Comaithchesa | The Judgements of Neighbourhood |
| Bretha Crédine | The Judgements of Crédine |
| Bretha Crólige | The Judgements of Blood-Lying |
| Bretha Déin Chécht | The Judgements of Dian Cecht |
| Bretha Étgid | The Judgements of Inadvertence |
| Bretha for Catslechtaib | |
| Bretha for Conslechtaib | |
| Bretha for Macslechtaib | |
| Bretha for Techt Medbae | The Judgement of the House of Medb |
| Bretha Forloiscthe | The Judgements of Arsons |
| Bretha Forma | The Judgements of Trapping |
| Bretha im Fuillemu Gell | The Judgements about pledge-interests |
| Bretha Goibnenn | The Judgements of Goibniu |
| Bretha Im Gata | The Judgements about thefts |
| Bretha Luchtaine | The Judgements of Luchtaine |
| Bretha Nemed Toísech | The First Judgement of Nemed |
| Bretha Nemed Dédenach | The Second Judgement of Nemed |
| Bretha Sen Forma | The Judgements Relating To Nets For Trapping |
| Briathar Cath Nam-Ban | |
| Cáin Aicillne | The Law of Base Clientship |
| Cáin Airlicthe | The Law of Airliciud |
| Cáin Dar Í | The Law of Dar Í |
| Cáin Domnaig | The Law of Sunday |
| Cáin Eimíne Báin | The Law of Eimíne |
| Cáin Fhuithirbe | The Regulation of Fuithirbe |
| Cáin Íarraith | The Law of the fosterage fee |
| Cáin Lánamna | The Regulation of Couples |
| Cáin Ona | Law of Ón |
| Cáin Phátraic | The law of Patrick |
| Cáin Sóerraith | The law of free fief |
| Ceart Uí Neill | The Rights of the O’Neills |
| Cethairslicht Athgabálae | |
| Cidh mor d’inndliged dogne duine | |
| Cinta tugaiti | |
| Coibnes Uisci Thairidne | |
| Cóic Conara Fugill | |
| Coirpri dixit fri Cormac | |
| Comair nuinge isin mbanbeim | |
| Cormac ua Cuinn dixit | |
| Córus Aithni | The Regulation Of Deposit |
| Córus Bésgnai | The Regulation Of Proper Behaviour |
| Córus Fiadnuise | The Regulation Of Evidence |
| Córus Fine | The Regulation Of The Kin-Group |
| Córus Iubaile | The Regulation Of Periods Of Immunity |
| Crith Gabhlach | The Ordering of Society (Ancient Laws of Ireland v.4) |
| D’fasta | |
| D’imfulung feicheman toicheda | |
| De deiligudh gotha | |
| De Druthbrethaib | On Judgements Relating To Idiots |
| Di Astud Chirt 7 Dligid | On The Confirmation Of Right And Law |
| Di Astud Chor | On The Binding Of Contracts |
| Di Brethaib Gaire | |
| Di Chetharshlicht Athgabála | On The Four Divisions Of Distraint |
| Di Choimét Dligthech | |
| Di Dligiud Raith 7 Somaíne la Flaith | On The Law Relating To The Fief And Profit Of A Lord |
| Di Fodlaib Cenéoil Túaithe (Fodla Fine) | |
| Di Gnímaib Gall | On The Actions Of Hostages |
| Di Thúaslucud Rudrad | |
| Dia Fis Cía Is Breitheamh I Ngach Cúis | To Find Out Who Is A Judge For Every Case |
| Dia fios cinnus icthar na feich | |
| Díguin Tract | |
| Dilsiugh beg eir rat | |
| Din Techtugad | “On the legal entry” (Ancient Laws of Ireland v.4) |
| Díre Tract | |
| Díre Tract & Bandíre Tract | |
| Dober dres eir fasta rudharta | |
| Do[n] aos fiachach | |
| Do brethemhnus forna ceithre finibh 7 do roinn in dobaid etarru | |
| Do breitheamhnus for finibh isle | |
| Do breitheamhnas for ghellaibh | On Judgement About Pledges |
| Do breitheamhnus for na huile chín doní gach cintach | On Judgement On Every Crime Which An Offender Commits |
| Do breitheamhnus forna comorbaib | |
| Do Brethaib Gaire | On Judgements Of Maintenance |
| Do cinta tucaite | |
| Do cointugud fir tháircthe | |
| Do dhícur aicnid | |
| Do druthaib 7 meraib 7 dasachtaibh | On Idiots, Insane Persons And Lunatics |
| Do eircib fola 7 bainbeimenna 7 fodhlaib einech | |
| Do dhilsiugh gac aoin ina míghnímhaibh | |
| Do fasta breithe co leicc | |
| Do fasta fiadnaise | |
| Do fastad tuinidhe | |
| Do fortach fiadnaise | |
| Do neamciontugud aosa taircthe | |
| Do neamhfastad breithe | |
| Do neimhaosa tairce | |
| Do nós dligthech 7 indligthech | |
| Do ruidilse tobaig cach besgna | |
| Do slaintiugh comhlaithre | |
| Do tabairt ileneclainne do nech | |
| Do tabairt mic i norba | |
| Do tabarta ada dilsi 7 ada indilsi | |
| Do taithmech breithe túata | |
| Do thaithmech tuinidi | |
| Do tiachtain fó choraib | |
| Do tosac caingne | |
| Do Tuaslucad Cundrad | On The Dissolution Of Contracts |
| Do Tuaslucud Rudradh | On The Dissolution Of Prescriptions |
| Don fuillem fil o dliged laisna fiachaibh | |
| Don toichid is dír do tabairt for chintac graidh flatha | |
| Dona rathaibh | |
| Dond d’fagbail a comocus | |
| Doní ant imat dligthech | |
| Doni berar .7. cumala | |
| Doni dliges nech do denadh | |
| Doni dlighus gac fer fíne | |
| Doni dligus nech fortach | |
| Doni is coir díthech dontí fora líther | |
| Doni is coir don rathaib | |
| Doni is comuasal gac duine | |
| Doni is dlighti do nech | |
| Doni is dilis in rath | |
| Doni is fine do neoch | |
| Doni is sruithem cor cétcor | |
| Doni na tabarr logh | |
| Doní is taithmechta | |
| Doni na fuil imdenamh a fatha | |
| Doni na fuil ní do cennaib | |
| Doní na tiagait anntesta acht do cranncor | |
| Doni na teit in ferann a rudhru | |
| Doni nach agarrta | |
| Doni nach coir aimles do techt | |
| Doni nach diles somaine | |
| Doni nach dlighinn cairrtech | |
| Doni nach dliginn nech | |
| Doní nach eitir cuis na tuaithi | |
| Doni nach millenn | |
| Doni rethes fuillem 7 fiach | |
| Doni teit indeman a breithe | |
| Doni tét in ferann a cionta | |
| Doni nac taithminn nech | |
| Doní nach dliginn nech | |
| Doní saorus in breithemh | |
| Donni nach eitir cuis | |
| Duil Droma Ceta | |
| Dúilchinni | |
| Eisceaptaighi Uithir | |
| Fidbretha | Tree-Judgements |
| Finebretha | Kin-Judgements |
| Fine neth | |
| Fodla Fine | Types Of Kin (Or Kinsman) |
| Fodla Tire | |
| Fotha bec | |
| Fotha mor | |
| Fuidir Tract | |
| Fuithribe Cormaic | |
| Gac duine ina cion | |
| Gibé minna dober-sa | |
| Gúbretha Caratniad | |
| Immathchor nAilella 7 Airt | |
| Injury Tract | |
| Is iat screbail deolaid | |
| Is dligthige do neoch | |
| Isí mo cetfaid na fuil | |
| Judgement of 1561 | |
| Leabhar na gCeart | The Book of Rights |
| Lebar Aicle | Book of Aicill (Ancient Laws of Ireland v.3) |
| Legal poem | |
| Mellbretha | Sport Judgements |
| Míadslechtae | Rank Sections |
| Molaim dona ratha | |
| Mruigrecht | Land-Law |
| Muirbretha | Sea-Judgements |
| Na hagra duine | |
| Nach dlegar aos taircthe | |
| Ni dogniter ar daingin maithisa | |
| Ni fuil a ndligi ar bith | |
| Ni tabar geall | |
| Ni taithminn nech | |
| Ni tig dligi cion | |
| O’Davoren’s Glossary | O’Davoren’s Glossary |
| Osbretha | Deer-Judgements |
| Ré condamhna na sét | |
| Recholl Breth | |
| Rethoric text about Cormac, Fachtna and Sogen | |
| Rethus fuillem 7 fiach | |
| Ríagail Phátraic | Rule of St. Patrick, The |
| Rule of St. Columba | |
| Rule of St. Columbanus | |
| Rith Na Cánnan | The Extent Of The Laws |
| Sárughadh | Violation [Of Protection, Asylum, Sanctuary] |
| Secht rann fichit triasa toet | |
| Sechtae | |
| Sénbretha | Net-Judgements |
| Senchus Mor | “The Great Old Law Book” (Ancient Laws of Ireland v.1-3) |
| Slán N-Aitire Cairde | The Immunity Of A Hostage-Surety In A Treaty |
| Slicht Othrusa | Section On Sick-Maintenance |
| Status Tract | |
| Succession tract & Appendix | |
| Taithmech rudhatha | |
| Tét an fearann a cintaib | |
| Text by Giolla na Naem Mac Aodhagain | |
| Text on Airecht | |
| Text on Cairde and Cormac Condloinges | |
| Text on court procedure | |
| Text on Cró 7 Díbad | |
| Text on Cú Chulainn and Aífe’s son | |
| Text on evidence | |
| Text on judges | |
| Text on kin-slaying | |
| Text on poets | |
| Text on Rudrad | |
| Text on status | |
| Text on the seven noble sciences | |
| Text on the seven ecclesiastical grades | |
| Text on wounding | |
| Texts on clientship | |
| Texts on distraint | |
| Tigim fai | |
| Tír Cumaile | |
| Tosach Bésgnai | |
| Tract on Marriage | |
| Tuarasndal na cana | |
| Tuinidh | |
| T[a]urbaid Tract | Legal Postponement |
| Uide cinad | |
| Uraicect becc | “The Small Primer” (Ancient Laws of Ireland v.5) |
| Uraicecht na Ríar | The Primer Of The Stipulations |
| Urcuilte Brethaman | The Forbidden Things Of A Judge |