MacNeill — Ancient Irish Law : Lm of Status or Franchise. 271 



done to a freeman incurred payment of the whole or part of his honourprice, 

 in addition to material restitution (aitlujin). Any mulct iu excess of 

 equivalent restitution is called dire, " off-payment." The corresponding verb 

 is di-reii, " pays off." Hence, in the tracts on status, dzre is frequently used 

 instead of log enech or eiieclann. A man's honourprice was also the measure 

 of the extent to which he could become surety, so that his liability as surety, 

 in case of his default or inability to pay, should become chargeable on his legal 

 kin. In litigation, the extent to which his oath or testimony was valid was 

 in some way measured by his honourprice. 



The principal early texts on the subject of status are Uraicccht Becc (V) 

 and Crith Gablach (IV). The development of the subject in UB confirms 

 the inference, drawn from the presence of gloss and commentary, that this 

 text belongs to the series of the oldest written law tracts. These are 

 characterized by an easily recognised style and maimer of treatment which 

 mark the transition from the mnemonic oral teaching of the older schools to 

 the exposition of legal doctrine by jurists accustomed to the writing of 

 prose. CG, on the other hand, shows a more developed prose style with long 

 consecutive paragraphs ■which were not written to be memorized and are only 

 slightly reminiscent of the mnemonic method of teaching. Meyer dates it in 

 the eighth century. The genitive aircg (IV 320, 24), and its scribal disguise 

 in airig (.308, 26; 310,4, 16), which later becomes airech, may indicate a 

 date as early as the close of the seventh century — cp. Adamnan's Fccliurcg, 

 which is represented in oghams by VECKEC and veqeeq.^ No gloss or com- 

 mentary accompanies CGr. 



I give in translation only tracts and detached articles which date from 

 before the Norse invasions, omitting and using only for explanation the glosses 

 and commentaries of later date, my aim being to exhibit the evidence of the 

 early documents on the laws and institutions, the social and economic conditions, 

 of a definite period. Many modern writers on the subject of ancient Irish 

 law have failed to observe that the extant material covers about a millennium 

 and contains abundant evidence of change, of growth and decay, in laws and 

 institutions. 



It is to be borne in mind that, while the same laws were held to be 

 applicable over the whole of Ireland, each tuath ruled by a petty king 

 constituted a separate jurisdiction. The civil rights which belonged to a 

 citizen in his own tiiath did not belong to him in any other. The freemen of 



' From stem aireg is formed airegde ; it seems to represent are-sag-, corresponding to 

 the verb ar-saig — III 10 of said aititiu, read ar-saig aititin, "it amounts to acknow- 

 ledgment" ; infin. airigid used in the sense of " honorific portion " given to the principal 

 guest at a feast. Aire would thus primarily mean one who puslies forward, a leader. 



