Like some of the Germanic legal codes, the Irish laws attempted to impose order on what must have been far less tidy and more varied social relations. The legal texts go into great detail about the duties of judges, to whom parties could turn with really serious disputes.12 Not only did a good judge need know Irish law, canon law, and poetry, but he had to be prepared to give a pledge in support of his judgement and to swear on the gospel that he would speak the truth. A judge was liable to pay a fine if he judged a case improperly—for example, by listening to only one party. The texts set out
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