MacNeill — Ancient Irish Law : Lazv of Status or Franchise. 283 



IV 300. — 66. Two (grades of) midboth men. (The first is) thefer miclboth 

 who makes declaratory oath in litigation involving fines. He makes oath 

 (in case of fines) from a needle to a heifer in its first age. That is his honour- 

 price for his defamation, for violation of his precinct, for his expulsion, for 

 dishonouring him. That is the amount to which his bond and his guarantee 

 and his evidence and his hostage extend. His food-provision is for himself 

 alone, milk and curds or corn. He is not entitled to butter. He protects his 

 equal in grade over his own tuath, and (the protege) is fed by him till he goes 

 over the border. 



67. Why is this man called a fer miclboth ? Because they come out of 

 boyhood (?) by right of fosterage, and he does not reach (the ownership of) a 

 fertacli (of land).^ 



68. Is a particular age determined for the fer midboth who swears to fines ? 

 The age of fourteen years is determined. The reason why he does not 

 maintain statement or evidence is because he is only capable of evidence on 

 every trivial matter before (the age ofj seventeen years, (and) that he has not 

 taken a possession (of the land of his kin) or an inheritance before that, unless 

 a man of the Feni be joint husbandman with him. This is the person who 

 swears to the fines of farm law.^ 



number of retinue in guesting. Othrus, " sick-maintenance," for himself and one or more 

 to attend him during his cure of wounds. The man who wounded him was liable. 

 Sndchid, "protection," the right of protecting strangers in the tuath ; called twthiigud in 

 Uraicecht Bee. raMJc/ire/co, " client-price " ; when a freeman contracted to become a 

 duerchele, or client without franchise under a lord, the lord paid him his honourprice, 

 besides supplying him with stock. Bestaiye, " house-custom ": the food-tribute rendered 

 by a client to his lord. 



' Both, a booth, a cabin, a house of low degree. Fer midbofh seems to mean 

 "a between-house man," "a man of mid-cottages." From what follows, it is evident 

 that the person so named was a minor, and from the foregoing, that he was under 

 fosterage. Perhaps he was "between dwellings" in the sense of belonging both to his 

 father's and to his foster-father's house. His right to a voice in legal matters may have 

 arisen from a custom of showing special favour to foster-children. 



- Proof by oath and proof by evidence were distinct processes. A man was not 

 necessarily a witness of the facts about which he made oath. He declared his belief in a 

 certain statement, and his declaration carried weight in proportion to his status. A 

 person of superior status had (for-toing, " he overswears,"/oi-tacA, " superior oath ") the 

 power of setting aside by his oath the oath of an inferior in status. This did not imply a 

 right to swear falsely. On the contrary, "the lord who swears what he does not sustain " 

 loses his rights over his clients (V 358, 7) ; and it may be inferred that no greater 

 impunity belonged to persons of lower grade. Proof by oath may be regarded as a form 

 of ordeal. It is mentioned (V 468, 470) along with three forms of ordeal which Saint 

 Patrick is said to have confirmed. Proof by oath or ordeal is called fir (ib.). 



Apparently the text implies that a minor between the ages of fourteen and seventeen 

 could hold land in some kind of partnership, and exercise in some small degree the 

 distinctive powers of franchise. 



Mruigrecht, " farm-law," seems to be a name for the laws governing the relations of 

 sniall agricultural communities which grew out of joint families. To this branch of law 



[32*] 



