nal signatures. But here it must be observed, that the district of 

 Thoinond, or Clare, like that of Kerry, has been from an early pe- 

 riod, and still is, remarkable for the generally improved education 

 of the various classes of its inhabitants. Further, they afford 

 abundant evidence that the Irish natives of those parts acknow- 

 ledged no other legal jurisdiction than that of the Brehons, un- 

 til after the commencement of the seventeenth century, when the 

 laws of England, under James the first, were extended over the 

 whole island, and legal muniments were, for the first time, gene- 

 rally written in the English language. The following instruments, 

 combined with the fragments of the Brehon code, published by the 

 late venerable and learned Vallancey, even scanty and imperfect as 

 they are, will demonstrate how long and how stedfastly the people 

 adhered to those laws, which were established in Ireland before the 

 era of Christianity, and continued to the accession of a monarch, 

 to whom the nation willingly submitted, as the lineal descendant of 

 its ancient kings. 



Among the most curious may , be enumerated No VIII. being 

 an ancient translation of a Brehon Judge's sentence or decree, a 

 record of very rare occurrence. The punishment appears to have 

 been by Eric or Fine, for as murder was punished by an Eric, so 

 a bare attempt to commit it, as in the present case, though unsuc- 

 cessful, was also subject to a like penalty.* From this fragment 

 it is manifest, notwithstanding some assertions to the contrary, that 

 the decrees of the Brehons were committed, in regular legal form, to 

 writing. It further shews that they were accustomed to insert in 



* Vide Har'rts's Ware, where an instance is adduced under the year ll^S, that " When Do- 

 nald O'Ferral and several of his clan conspired to kill Ternan O'Rorke, whom they set upon 

 and grievously wounded ; yet, notwithstanding he escaped with life, his Eric was exacted from 

 the O'Ferrals, as if he liad been killed."— VoL 1. p. 70. 



