MacNeill — Ancient Irish Law : Law of Status or Franchise. 269 



filed) are equal in grade to the king, and remain so in later developments of 

 classification. The fer midboth was mace beoathar, " son of a living father," 

 who had certain rights to franchise, but was not wholly sui juris. The 

 terminology bears testimony to gradual development. Ai^-e ddsso means 

 " noble of a dels." Deis, according to CG, implies the whole authority of a 

 ruling noble. In a more limited sense, it means his collective body of subject 

 persons. This is probably the older meaning, exemplified in the names of 

 certain population groups, Bisi Breg, Be'si Ihiman, in Biis Becc, in Bdis 

 7'uaiscirt. B/is, i.e. ferann, "land," given in some glosses, shows the 

 same transference of sense as is exemplified in inath. The distinction between 

 Idairc and aire disso or airefcbe is this, that, while both were landowners, the 

 status qualification of the hoaire consisted mainly in the possession of cattle, 

 that of the aire disso or aire fehe in the possession of authority over cell or 

 aithig, contractual clients, who collectively formed his deis. Aire dilsso must 

 have originated as a generic name for the whole class of ruling nobles. The 

 names of the higher nobles were obviously adopted with a view to further 

 differentiation, aire ardd, " high noble " ; aire tidse, " first noble " ; aireforgill, 

 " noble of superior testimony." We have actual evidence of the gradual 

 establishment of a recent terminology. In UB, the aire ardd is of higher 

 grade than the aire tiiise ; iu the other tracts, the positions are reversed. 



By the time when the laws came to be written, about the middle of the 

 seventh century, a further stage of classification had been reached. The 

 ruling nobles were now divided into seven grades, exclusive of the hoaire class. 

 This is the doctrine of UB, and it became the traditional doctrine of the law 

 schools, for the glosses and commentaries use the terms grdd flatha, " order of 

 government," and grdd sechta, " sevenfold order," applying both indifferently 

 to the grades of ruling nobles collectively ; to all others of free status they 

 give the collective name grdd Fine," order of the Feni." In this terminology, 

 the plural, grdid, grdda, grddaib, is sometimes used.' 



To eke out the number seven, UB introduces a higher grade of king, ri 

 ruirech, and, above aire desso, a grade of noble, aire e'chta, " noble of death- 

 deeds." CGr, though it recognizes three grades of king, does not admit them to 

 the sevenfold classification. It makes up the seven grades by introducing, below 

 the king, the tanaise rig, " second to a king," " whom the tuath expects to 

 succeed the king." CG also admits, to make up the number seven, the grade 



' See I 43 gloss— grad flatha . . . grad Peine ; I 55 gloss — graid flatha; I 01 com- 

 mentary — na secht ngraidh flatha ; I 62 comm. — do grdidaihh Peine . . . do gradhaibh 

 Hatha ; I 96, gloss — uasalnemid .i. gradh seachta ; I 112 gloss— nemthib .i. grad flatha ; 

 I 112 comm.— )i« graidh Feni . . . na graidh flatha ; I 116 comm.— grad Peine . . . gradh 

 flatha ; aud so passim. 



