Fitzwalter was furnished with precise instructions in regard to the carrying out of the scheme by which Leix and Offaly were to be planted with English settlers. Only a part of the boggy western lands was to be reserved for the native Irish. All, English and Irish alike, were to hold their lands from the Crown, paying rent and dues and conforming themselves to the English laws. The settlers were not to sell their estates, or any part of them, to the ... Read More

    Judges were called brehons; and the law they administered is, therefore, now commonly known as the " Brehon Law."* To become a brehon a person had to go through a regular, well-defined course oftraining. The brehons were a very influential class of men, and those attached to chiefs had free lands for their maintenance. Those not so attached lived simply on the fees of their profession. It generally required great technical skill to decide cases, the legal rules, as set ... Read More