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written laws ; that their oral laws were calculated only for a nation 
of barbarians, and were as variable and as numerous as there were 
different tribes in the Island. Others admit, that the Irish had writ- 
ten laws, at a very early period of their history, but exclaim against 
them as unjust and oppressive, having in every respect an immo- 
ral tendency, destructive to the happiness of the people and pre- 
venting the improvement of the country :—whilst on the other hand, 
there have not been wanted some liberal and candid writers of the 
sister country, of no small celebrity in the literary world, who assert 
that the Irish Institutes were founded in reason and justice; that 
they were administered with strict impartiality ; and, consequently, 
that they afforded protection to all classes of people, without distinc- 
tion, and were productive of happiness and comfort to the nation, 
leaving none in distress or in a state of pauperism. 
To lay open these adverse opinions, and examine them by the test 
of truth; to state fairly from incontrovertible facts what was the 
nature and the tendency of the ancient Irish laws, and to direct 
the reader to where copies of those laws of considerable antiquity 
are to be found, is the design of the following pages. On an in- 
quiry into this matter, so much talked of and so little known, even 
to professed Irish scholars and antiquaries, and upon which so many 
conflicting opinions have been formed, the author of this tract finds 
considerable difficulty to proceed with that clearness and precision 
which so interesting a subject deserves. In matters of conjecture, 
it is with no small degree of diffidence that he submits on the nature 
and influence of the ancient laws of his country such of his opini- 
ons as are in opposition to those delivered by eminent writers who 
have viewed those Institutes in a different light. But, when sup- 
ported by matter of fact, to which, in pursuit of his subject, he has 
