Is it Time to Go Back?I discussed Sky People and Earth People in my post from 10 December 2025. (https://all1mind.blogspot.com/2025/12/forgiveness-ends-dream-of-conflict-here.html).
The Earth People codified their stewardship of the land and their dealings with each other in The Brehon Laws.
Brehon Law was Ireland's native legal system from ancient times until it was fully supplanted by English common law in the 17th century. Administered by a class of professional jurists called Brehons (Old Irish: brithemain), it was a highly sophisticated, restorative system that governed all aspects of Gaelic life.
Key Features of Brehon Law
Restorative Justice: Unlike modern penal systems, there were no prisons or police. Punishment focused on restitution and compensation (fines) rather than retribution or capital punishment, which was an absolute last resort.
Social Status: A person's legal rights and the value of their testimony were tied to their honour price (lóg n-enech), which was determined by their rank and status in society.
Rights of Women: Women held a distinct legal identity. They could own property, enter into contracts, and initiate divorce. In marriage, both partners often retained rights to the property they brought into the union.
Environmental Protection: Specific laws governed the management of the landscape, including detailed regulations on the care of trees and the protection of honeybees (Bechbretha).
Enforcement: The system was largely self-enforcing. If a defendant refused to pay a fine, the plaintiff could use methods like distraint (seizing property) or fasting (hunger striking) outside the defendant's door to shame them into compliance.
The Sky People Had Their Way
There is no single date or year when English common law "fully" supplanted Brehon Law. Instead, the process was a gradual encroachment over nearly 500 years, with the 17th century considered the pivotal period when the native Irish legal system was formally destroyed and replaced.
However, key legal decisions, political, and military events during the early 17th century effectively ended the authority of the Brehon Law:
1603: The Proclamation of King James I "received the Irish people into the King’s protection," signalling the formal end of the Brehon Law's authority and its replacement with common law throughout the country.
1605 & 1607 (The Definitive Judicial Blows): Two landmark court cases specifically rejected the core principles of Brehon Law:
Gavelkind (1605): A judicial decision that outlawed the Gaelic system of land inheritance.
Tanistry (1607): A court decision that abolished the Irish custom of electing successors to land, holding that it failed to meet the requirements of common law (i.e., that it was not reasonable).
1607 (The Flight of the Earls): This event removed the remaining patronage for the Brehons (native judges), as the last of the major Gaelic lords fled to the continent, marking the end of the traditional political order in Ulster.
- 1169-1600s: The two systems coexisted, with common law largely confined to "The Pale" (Dublin and surrounds) for much of this time.
- 17th Century: The Tudor and Stuart conquests definitively eliminated the native law, replacing it with the English feudal land tenure system.
- 18th Century: While formally abolished, remnants of Brehon law practices continued to exist in the "Irish subconscious" or among the rural population for some time.
Conclusion
It looks like the Sky People have won again. But there always is a "but". While there is no realistic possibility of Ireland replacing its modern legal system with Brehon Law, there is growing interest in integrating its core principles—specifically restorative justice and community-based mediation—into the current legal framework.
