270 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 



of aire echta, but where it. treats of this noble afterwards in detail, it assigns 

 him no distinctive hononrpiiee, and says expressly that '"' his retinue and 

 sick-maintenance are due as those of an aire desso." Generally in the early law 

 tracts, there is no distinct grade of aire icMa and only one legal grade of king. 

 This is the doctrine of Cain larraitli, vol. ii ; of Cain AicUlni, vol. ii ; of Cain 

 Ldiwrana, voL ii ; of Corns Bescna, voL iii ; of BretJia im Fuillema Cell, vol. v. 

 On the other hand, instead of aire icMa, but below aire d&so, the text of the 

 last-named tract has the grade of aire etir da avrig, apparently the equivalent 

 of the/er fotlilai of CG, a loaire who has acquired clients, but not in sufficient 

 number to give him the rank of aire de'sso, and who is thus "a noble between 

 two nobles." 



It is clear from these variations that in the time of the ancient tracts, the 

 classification of the ruling grades was in covu-se of development and had not 

 settled down into commonly accepted doctriae. The same is tiiie of the 

 non-ruling grades. UB makes out seven of these by including three gi-ades 

 of boys under age, a grade of fer midbo/h not wholly sui jui-is, a grade of 

 mruigfer " landman," and two grades of loaire or dcaire — terms which in this 

 tract appear to be synonymous. The three grades of young boys, inoJ, 

 flescach, garid, are found in no other early text. CG has eight grades of 

 hoaire. In these, the mruigfer, inferior in UB, is superior to the bdaire. The 

 ferfothlai and the aire coisi-ing of CG are found in no other early text. 



The glosses and commentaries show consistent CA-idence of a stUl later 

 expansion and adjustment of grades. In them, we find distinction of three 

 grades oifer midboih, three of dcaire, three of bdaire, one of aire etir da airig, 

 aire desa, aire ardd, aire tuise, three grades of aire forgill, and four grades of 

 king — the king of one tuath, the king of a great tuath (a group of tuafka), the 

 king of a fifth or " province," and the king of Ireland. Such a multiplication 

 of gr-ades was perhaps a natural result of the exposition of the law in writing 

 and its development by a class of jurists who were fond of meticulous 

 distinctions. 



Honoui-price was the valuation of the freeman's status, not a valuation 

 for life or for a year, but a valuation of the power and effect of his status at 

 any given time. When a freeman entered into a contract of aiciUne to a 

 ruling noble, becoming his ddcrcldic, or subject client, he received, in addition 

 to an amount of capital (jmth) which varied according to his grade, his 

 honourprice in the form of seoit turchluithi, " recoverable chattels." In other 

 words, he made a sale of his status to his lord {flaiiTi), and transferred to him 

 his franchise. The lord acquired the power of judgment [riar) over him and 

 acted on his behalf in eomt and assembly. The client could separate from 

 the lord and recover his franchise upon tenns prescribed by law. Wrong 



