MacNeill — Ancient Irish Law : Law of Status or Franchise. 313 



bereft of franchise : by selling his property, by liaving no property but 

 cattle wliich he puts to graze on the land of others, by being deranged in 

 mind, etc. 



Of some importance is the list of rights and privileges that are characteristic 

 of freemen : retinue, right to food-provision, right against expulsion or exclu- 

 sion (from places to which freemen resort in common), to compensation for 

 wounding, for violation of precinct, for violence done to a guest, right to 

 protect strangers, to give security in various ways, to give evidence, to make 

 declaration upon oath. But these potential rights did not become actual, 

 unless the freeman liad property qualifications. " There are seven things by 

 which a man is measured : physique, kindred, land, husbandry, profession, 

 wealth, integrity." 



The statement of the seven grades of Latin learning is obviously artificial, 

 since one of the grades has the poetical title of sruth di aill, " a stream from a 

 cliff." The names of all the grades are pui'ely Irish words, showing that, at 

 the time of the tract, the boundary between Latin and Irish learning had 

 been effaced. The first grade is rosui, " great doctor," also called sui littre, 

 "doctor of the Letter," i.e. of Scripture. To this grade, too, is given the title of 

 ollam, borrowed from the terminology of Irish learning. He is a master of 

 " the four divisions of knowledge," wnich are not named. The second grade 

 is dnruth, a title borrowed also from ihe native learning. The dnncth is 

 skilled not only in Latin learning, legend, but in Irish poetry and Irish 

 synchronic history, this last indeed a product of the Latin schools. The third 

 grade is sxd, " doctor." He teaches only one of the four divisions of learning, 

 and a quotation from Cenn Faelad seems to indicate that the fourth division, 

 in addiiion to the three which the dnruth professes, was the " Canon," i.e. the 

 Canon Law ? or Scripture. The fourth grade is, " the stream from a cliff." 

 The description of this grade is very poetical, but indicates a tutor who assists 

 the backward pupils. The fifth gx&Aeis fursaintid, "illuminator," analogous 

 perl laps to the demonstrator of science of our time. The sixth grade is 

 freisneidid, " interrogator." The seventli is felmac, a pupil who has learned 

 to read the Psalms in Latin. 



The seven grades of Irish learning are the same as in other lists, except 

 that the highest grade is called eces instead of ollam. The title ollam, however, 

 is found later in the text applied to this grade. Beneath the seven pro- 

 fessional grades is that of ba7-d, who " has no law of learning but his own 

 invention." 



The tract ends with a rambling discourse about the honourprice of 

 bishops, priests, and laymen who retire into religious life. As it seems to be 

 a literary rather than a juristic composition, I do not give a rendering. 



R.i.A. PKOC, VOL. XXXVI, SKCT. C. fSi] 



