Corrections

We have made mistakes, and the books have caught them. Here they are, newest first. We add to this list and we never remove from it.

• October 2026 · The whole site

  Was: Eighteen of the twenty cases were checked against Kelly’s Guide, but our wording often gave reasons for the rules that Kelly does not give, dropped his hedges (“presumably”, “apparently”, “evidently”), and followed his sentences too closely.

  Now: Twelve cases rewritten after a line-by-line audit, with the invented reasons removed, hedges restored and a “Where we are not sure” section added. The six thinnest cases were rewritten the same way.

  A second audit of every case against the texts.

• October 2026 · The Gap in the Fence

  Was: The gloss said the law sets the standard of a fence by animals and not by measures.

  Now: Kelly says the tract describes the construction and dimensions of four approved kinds of fence in detail.

  Audit against Kelly.

• October 2026 · The Pet Wolf

  Was: The gloss said the law does not try to count each harm one by one.

  Now: Removed: Kelly says the general principle of animal trespass is to relate compensation to the damage done.

  Audit against Kelly.

• October 2026 · Fasting upon a Lord

  Was: The case said fasting was used instead of distraint, and cited Ginnell, whom we had not read.

  Now: Fasting came first and distraint could follow it. The Ginnell citation has been removed.

  Audit against Kelly.

• October 2026 · The Bee That Blinded a King

  Was: A gloss said a bee that has stung has paid, and that the law allows for its death.

  Now: The law-text does not mention the bee dying. A glossator does, and holds that the man is still owed honey if he did not kill the bee himself.

  Audit against the Bechbretha edition.

• October 2026 · The Cow That Had Just Calved

  Was: The case was headed with the wrong tract. Its rule on the cow that has just calved comes from the Heptads, not from Di Chethairshlicht Athgabálae.

  Now: Heading and sources corrected.

  Audit against Kelly’s notes.

• October 2026 · How the law worked

  Was: The page said women had no honour-price of their own, and ran together the roles of the aitire (hostage-surety) and the naidm (enforcing surety).

  Now: Rewritten from Kelly’s chapters on status and suretyship.

  Reading Kelly, A Guide to Early Irish Law.

• October 2026 · The Craving

  Was: The case was attributed to Bretha Étgid, and gave the husband a duty to supply his wife’s craving.

  Now: The source is CIH 242.17, as Kelly cites it, and there is no duty on the husband in what we have read.

  Reading Kelly on stress and necessity.

• October 2026 · The Bee That Blinded a King

  Was: The case said a single hive went to the king.

  Now: The edition (§§30 to 34) gives lots and shares over the hives; we have rewritten it from the edition.

  Reading Charles-Edwards and Kelly, Bechbretha.

• October 2026 · The Felled Oak

  Was: The fines for cutting the oak were not as the sources give them.

  Now: Five sets for a lord of the wood, with extra compensation set by the kind of cut, as Kelly gives.

  Reading Kelly, Early Irish Farming.