Leges inter Brettos et Scottos
Encyclopedia
The Leges inter Brettos et Scottos or Laws of the Brets and Scots was a legal codification under David I of Scotland
(reigned 1124 – 1153). Only a small fragment of the original document survives, describing the penalties for several offenses against people.
Historically, the term "Brets" refers to Brythonic
peoples, while "Scots" refers to Gaelic
-speaking, Irish
-descended peoples. Skene
however, asserted that here "Scots" refers to all of the peoples living north of the firths of Clyde
and Forth
.
Aside from the document's intrinsic importance to Scottish history
, it is significant in its similarity to corresponding areas both of Irish Brehon law and of Welsh law
, which are better-preserved than the laws of medieval southern Scotland, allowing reasonable conjectures to be made regarding the laws and customs of the region, as few historical records exist.
The Laws or their precursor were relevant in the early twelfth century, as the Laws of the Four Burghs (Latin: Leges Quatuor Burgorum) explicitly banned parts of it relating to the cro (or weregild
).
The Laws of the Four Burghs is dated between 1135 and 1157, and there is uncertainty and some contention in establishing the specific date. The four burghs were then Stirling
, Edinburgh
, Lanark
, and Linlithgow
, with the latter two replaced by Roxburgh
and Berwick
in 1168.
The Laws are known to have been relevant until 1305, as Edward I of England
specifically abolished them in that year, following his invasion of Scotland. There is no further mention of them, and when Scotland successfully reasserted its independence
, the feudal
Scots law
then became applicable.
culture, where a perpetrator's family is responsible for the perpetrator's transgressions, and the family of a victim is compensated for the loss of a family member. As with other Celt
ic societies, the rights and obligations of women are explicitly guaranteed (though at a lesser standing than that of men). Marriages are treated as relationships between different families, and payments accrue to the family of the victim's spouse under some circumstances, but accrue to the victim's family under other circumstances.
Definition of the penalties
Penalty amount according to social position
The amounts to be paid were on a scale according to the social position of the victim, with the king at the top with the greatest value, then with a lesser amount for his son or high-ranking noble, an even lesser amount for other nobles, and so on down to the least amount for a common person. Amounts for homicide were given both as a number of cows, and as an equivalent amount of gold. Amounts for wounding or insult were given in gold only.
Payments for a female victim were one third less than that of her husband (but equal to that of her brother if she were unmarried), and make clear that women retained their original kinship and rights after marriage, as death penalties were owed by her family (and not by her husband's family), while death payments were made to her family (and not to the husband's family). Also, the importance of the marriage is acknowledged in that some payments for insult accrue to the spouse of the victim, rather than to the victim's family.
David I of Scotland
David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...
(reigned 1124 – 1153). Only a small fragment of the original document survives, describing the penalties for several offenses against people.
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
peoples, while "Scots" refers to Gaelic
Goidelic languages
The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...
-speaking, Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
-descended peoples. Skene
William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene , Scottish historian and antiquary, was the second son of Sir Walter Scott's friend, James Skene , of Rubislaw, near Aberdeen....
however, asserted that here "Scots" refers to all of the peoples living north of the firths of Clyde
Firth of Clyde
The Firth of Clyde forms a large area of coastal water, sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre peninsula which encloses the outer firth in Argyll and Ayrshire, Scotland. The Kilbrannan Sound is a large arm of the Firth of Clyde, separating the Kintyre Peninsula from the Isle of Arran.At...
and Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
.
Aside from the document's intrinsic importance to Scottish history
History of Scotland
The history of Scotland begins around 10,000 years ago, when humans first began to inhabit what is now Scotland after the end of the Devensian glaciation, the last ice age...
, it is significant in its similarity to corresponding areas both of Irish Brehon law and of Welsh law
Welsh law
Welsh law was the system of law practised in Wales before the 16th century. According to tradition it was first codified by Hywel Dda during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales; as such it is usually called Cyfraith Hywel, the Law of Hywel, in Welsh...
, which are better-preserved than the laws of medieval southern Scotland, allowing reasonable conjectures to be made regarding the laws and customs of the region, as few historical records exist.
The Laws or their precursor were relevant in the early twelfth century, as the Laws of the Four Burghs (Latin: Leges Quatuor Burgorum) explicitly banned parts of it relating to the cro (or weregild
Weregild
Weregild was a value placed on every human being and every piece of property in the Salic Code...
).
The Laws of the Four Burghs is dated between 1135 and 1157, and there is uncertainty and some contention in establishing the specific date. The four burghs were then Stirling
Stirling
Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Lanark
Lanark
Lanark is a small town in the central belt of Scotland. Its population of 8,253 makes it the 100th largest settlement in Scotland. The name is believed to come from the Cumbric Lanerc meaning "clear space, glade"....
, and Linlithgow
Linlithgow
Linlithgow is a Royal Burgh in West Lothian, Scotland. An ancient town, it lies south of its two most prominent landmarks: Linlithgow Palace and Linlithgow Loch, and north of the Union Canal....
, with the latter two replaced by Roxburgh
Roxburgh
Roxburgh , also known as Rosbroch, is a village, civil parish and now-destroyed royal burgh. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland...
and Berwick
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
in 1168.
The Laws are known to have been relevant until 1305, as Edward I of England
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
specifically abolished them in that year, following his invasion of Scotland. There is no further mention of them, and when Scotland successfully reasserted its independence
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the independent Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries....
, the feudal
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
Scots law
Scots law
Scots law is the legal system of Scotland. It is considered a hybrid or mixed legal system as it traces its roots to a number of different historical sources. With English law and Northern Irish law it forms the legal system of the United Kingdom; it shares with the two other systems some...
then became applicable.
The surviving clauses
The surviving clauses show the society's origins as a tribalTribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
culture, where a perpetrator's family is responsible for the perpetrator's transgressions, and the family of a victim is compensated for the loss of a family member. As with other Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic societies, the rights and obligations of women are explicitly guaranteed (though at a lesser standing than that of men). Marriages are treated as relationships between different families, and payments accrue to the family of the victim's spouse under some circumstances, but accrue to the victim's family under other circumstances.
Definition of the penalties
- Penalties for death, including honour-price (clause LV) - cro, enach, and galnes (cf. Irish crólige báis relating to éraic, Irish enech, and Welsh galanasGalanasGalanas in Welsh law was a payment made by a killer and his family to the family of his or her victim. It is similar to Ericfine in Ireland and the Anglo-Saxon Weregild....
, resp.). Payment is made to the victims or their families. This is the feature of tribal law commonly known in EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as a weregildWeregildWeregild was a value placed on every human being and every piece of property in the Salic Code...
.
- Penalties for homicides that breach the king's peace (clause LVI) - These are separate from other penalties that might result from killing a person. It includes breaches to the peace of lesser individuals (such as breaching the peace of a noble), which have lesser penalties. Payment is made to the person whose peace was breached.
- Penalties for wounding or insults to personal honour (clauses LVII and LVIII) - kelchin or gelchach (cf. Irish enech and Welsh sarhad). Payment is made to the victims or their families. Penalties are distinguished for greater and lesser wounds (e.g., different penalties for drawing blood than for a wound that does not draw blood).
Penalty amount according to social position
The amounts to be paid were on a scale according to the social position of the victim, with the king at the top with the greatest value, then with a lesser amount for his son or high-ranking noble, an even lesser amount for other nobles, and so on down to the least amount for a common person. Amounts for homicide were given both as a number of cows, and as an equivalent amount of gold. Amounts for wounding or insult were given in gold only.
Payments for a female victim were one third less than that of her husband (but equal to that of her brother if she were unmarried), and make clear that women retained their original kinship and rights after marriage, as death penalties were owed by her family (and not by her husband's family), while death payments were made to her family (and not to the husband's family). Also, the importance of the marriage is acknowledged in that some payments for insult accrue to the spouse of the victim, rather than to the victim's family.
See also
- Anglo-Saxon lawAnglo-Saxon lawAnglo-Saxon law is a body of written rules and customs that were in place during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, before the Norman conquest. This body of law, along with early Scandinavian law and continental Germanic law, descended from a family of ancient Germanic custom and legal thought...
- Davidian RevolutionDavidian RevolutionThe Davidian Revolution is a term given by many scholars to the changes which took place in the Kingdom of Scotland during the reign of David I of Scotland...
- Brehon law
- Celtic lawCeltic lawA number of law codes have in the past been in use in Celtic countries. While these vary considerably in details, there are certain points of similarity....
- Welsh lawWelsh lawWelsh law was the system of law practised in Wales before the 16th century. According to tradition it was first codified by Hywel Dda during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales; as such it is usually called Cyfraith Hywel, the Law of Hywel, in Welsh...
External links
- Berne Manuscript (National Archives of Scotland, reference PA5/1), f. 61r-v, 13th-century MS digitized by the Stair Society.