217 
the injury. Ifshe belonged to a common tribe, that tribe should 
pay the forfeit of her crime.* 
Even for minor offences, the Irish laws provided proper remedies 
and modes of punishment. ‘To prevent damages, or waste of pro- 
perty, by animals of every description, or by the neglect of persons 
having property in charge, punishments by fine were also provided, 
besides the full value of the damage being paid tothe injured proprietor. 
Nor were the moral characters of persons unprotected by the laws, 
which prescribed penalties to be inflicted on the slanderer and the 
calumniator. 
IX. Observations on the difficulties attending a translation of the 
Brehon Laws.— Recapitulation.— Conclusion. 
A translation of the Brehon Laws has been represented by some 
writers as a matter of extreme difficulty, and by others as a thing 
absolutely impossible. The late Charles O’Conor of Balanagar; 
whose authority, on subjects connected with Irish Antiquities and 
literature, must always have considerable weight, has declared, that 
« the Irish jurisprudence was almost entirely confined to the Phcenian 
“ dialect, a dialect understood only by the Brehons, and law-advo- 
** cates, and a few who had the curiosity to study our language.”— 
He adds, “ I have had an opportunity of conversing with some of 
« the most learned Irish scholars in our island, and they freely con- 
«« fessed to me, that to them, both the text and gloss were equally 
* unintelligible. The key for expounding both was, so late as the 
“ reign of Charles the First, possessed by the Mac Egans, who kept 
“ their law-school in Tipperary, and I dread that since that time it 
“ has been lost.”-+ Doctor Ledwich, although utterly ignorant of 
GG 2 
. 
* MSS. in Lib. Trin. Coll. Class H. No. 53. 
+ Ledwich’s Antiquities, edition 1803, page 303. 
