^5 



Southern Hy Nial, and Ossory.* And there is extant in the MSS. 

 of Trinity College, Dublin, the Leabhar na Ceart, or Book of Rights, 

 said to be written in the fifth century; but this seems an error. "It is, 

 however, a very ancient composition, and throws great light on the 

 early history of Ireland. It gives an account of the revenues and 

 rights of its monarchs, payable by the provincial kings and by the 

 chiefs of inferior districts, the subsidies paid by the monarchs to the 

 provincial kings and inferior chiefs for their services ; and also an ac- 

 count of the revenues of each of the provincial kings, payable to them 

 from the chiefs of districts, or tribes in their respective provinces, and 

 the subsidies paid by the provincial kings to those petty dynasts. 

 These accounts are first delivered in prose, and the same are after- 

 wards recorded in verse. "t* The revenues of the kings of Con- 

 naught are fully set out by Doctor O'Conor.^; 



On the subject of legislation, the integrity and justice of Moran, 

 in the beginning of the first century, are as well known, as the tradi- 

 tion of his collar, while it may be added, that he is said to have leiJt 

 testamentary precepts, on the necessary qualifications of a good prince, 

 for the instruction of the then king of Ireland. § Other precepts on 

 law and government, said to be written by King Cormac, were about 

 the end of the fifteenth century abridged and versified by Mac-Daire, 

 which version has been published in the Transactions of the Gaelic 

 Society, accompanied with a Latin and English translation.il The 

 reign of Tuthal, however, commencing A. D. 130, is that which re- 

 flects most spendour on the Irish annals, in the constitution and 

 legislation which he established. Then it was that the kings and 



* 1 O'Conor, Rer. Hib. Script. Proleg. cxxxi. 



f Trans. Ibemo-Celt. Soc. p. xxviii. ,t i ♦ 



X 2 O'Conor, Rer. Hib. Script. 2nd Proleg. xc. § Trans. Ibemo-Celt. Soc. jp. xx. 



11 Trans. Ibemo-Celt. Soc. p. cli. 



L 2 



