ath," capital punishment did not prevail in Ireland
before or after. The laws uniformly discountenanced revenge,
retaliation, the punishment of one crime by another, and permitted
capital punishment only in the last resort and in ultimate default of
every other form of redress. They contain elaborate provision for
dealing with crime, but the standpoint from which it is regarded and
treated is essentially different from ours. The state, for all its
elaborate structure, did not assume jurisdiction in relation to any
crimes except political ones, such as treason or the disturbance of a
large assembly. For these it inflicted the severest penalties known to
the law--banishment, confiscation of property, death or putting out of
eyes. A crime against the person, character or property of an individual
or family was regarded as a thing for which reparation should be made,
but the individual or family had to seek the reparation by a personal
action. This differed from a civil action only in the terms employed and
the elements used in calculating the amount of the reparation. The
function of a judge in a criminal as in a civil action was to see that
the facts, with modifying circumstances, were fully and truly submitted
to him, and then by applying the law to these facts to ascertain and
declare the amount of compensation that would make a legal adjustment.
For this amount the guilty person, and in his default his kindred,
became legally debtor, and the injured person or family became entitled
to recover the amount like a civil debt by distraint, if not paid
voluntarily. There were no police, sheriffs or public prisons. The
decisions of the law were executed by the persons concerned, supported
by a highly organized and disciplined public opinion springing from
honour and interest and inherent in the solidarity of the clan. There is
good reason to believe that the system was as effectual in the
prevention and punishment of crime and in the redress of wrongs as any
other human contrivance has ever been.

In calculating the amount of compensation the most characteristic and
important element was _Einechlan_ (= honour-price, honour-value), a
value attaching to every free person, varying in amount from one cow to
thirty cows according to rank. It was the assessed value of _status_ or
_caput_. It was frequently of consequence in relation to contracts and
other clan affairs; but it emerges most clearly in connexion with crime.
By the com