inary defendant, and to seize double the amount that would have
satisfied him in the first instance. If a person fasting in accordance
with law died during or in consequence of the fast, the person fasted
upon was held guilty of murder. Fasting could be stopped by paying the
debt, giving a pledge, or submitting to the decision of a Brehon. A
creditor fasting after a reasonable offer of settlement had been made to
him forfeited his claim. "He who fasts notwithstanding the offer of what
should be accorded to him, forfeits his legal right according to the
decision of the Feini."

AUTHORITIES.--Since Sir Samuel Ferguson wrote his article on "Brehon
Laws" in the 9th edition of this _Encyclopaedia_, much research has
been done on the subject, and Ferguson's account is no longer accepted
by scholars, either as regards the language or the substance of the
laws. Pending the work of a second Brehon Law Commission, the Laws are
best studied in the six imperfect volumes (_Ancient Laws of Ireland_,
1865-1901) produced by the first Commission (ignoring their long and
worthless introductions), together with, Dr. Whitley Stokes's
_Criticism_ (London, Nutt, 1903) of Atkinson's _Glossary_ (Dublin,
1901). The following are important references (kindly supplied by Dr
Whitley Stokes) for detailed research:--R. Dareste, _Etudes d'histoire
de droit_, pp. 356-381 (Paris, 1889); Arbois de Jubainville and Paul
Collinet, _Etudes sur le droit celtique_ (2 vols., Paris, 1895);
Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, vol. i. pp. 168-214 (2
vols., London, 1903); _Zeitschrift fur celtische Philologie_, iv. 221,
the Copenhagen fragments of the Laws (Halle, 1903); important letters
in _The Academy_, Nos. 699, 700, 701, 702, 703, 704, 706, 707
(substantially covered by Stokes's _Criticism_); _Revue Celtique_,
xxv. 344; _Erin_, i. 209-315 (collation by Kuno Meyer of the Law-tract
Crith Gablach); Maine's _Early Hist, of Institutions_ (1875) and
_Early Law and Custom_, pp. 162, 180 (1883); Hearn's _Aryan Household_
(1879), and Maclennan's _Studies in Ancient History_, pp. 453-507
(1876), contain interesting general reference, but the writers were
not themselves original students of the laws. L. Ginnell's _Brehon
Laws_ (1894) may also be consulted. See further the article CELT,
sections _Language_ and _Literature_. (L. G.)

BREISACH, or ALTBREISACH, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of
Ba