March law was a set of laws and customs obtaining in the border areas of the

Lordship of Ireland The Lordship of Ireland ( ga, Tiarnas na hÉireann), sometimes referred to retroactively as Norman Ireland, was the part of Ireland ruled by the King of England (styled as "Lord of Ireland") and controlled by loyal Anglo-Norman lords between ...

during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. These regions were ruled by

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

lords between

The Pale The Pale (Irish: ''An Pháil'') or the English Pale (' or ') was the part of Ireland directly under the control of the English government in the Late Middle Ages. It had been reduced by the late 15th century to an area along the east coast st ...

, which was the portion of Ireland ruled directly by the English crown, and

Gaelic Ireland Gaelic Ireland ( ga, Éire Ghaelach) was the Gaelic political and social order, and associated culture, that existed in Ireland from the late prehistoric era until the early 17th century. It comprised the whole island before Anglo-Normans co ...

, which was still under the rule of native kings. It came into being in the late 13th century, when King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassa ...

drained resources from Ireland to fund his

conquest of Wales The conquest of Wales by Edward I took place between 1277 and 1283. It is sometimes referred to as the Edwardian Conquest of Wales,Examples of historians using the term include Professor J. E. Lloyd, regarded as the founder of the modern academi ...

and his wars in Scotland. Since the two areas were often intermingled in the border regions, as in the

Wicklow Mountains The Wicklow Mountains (, archaic: ''Cualu'') form the largest continuous upland area in the Republic of Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into the counties of Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. Wh ...

, the applicability and content of march law varied widely.

Gearóid Mac Niocaill Gearóid Mac Niocaill (1932–2004) was one of the foremost twentieth-century scholars and interpreters of late medieval Irish tracts. Life Gearóid was born in Hull, England in 1932 to an Irish mother. His lifelong work in the Irish language bu ...

, "March Law", in S. J. Connolly, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Irish History'', 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2002 nline 2007, retrieved 2016-03-28. Typically, march law was based on

English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

amended by the addition of

Irish law Law of Ireland or Irish law may refer to: * Early Irish law (Brehon law) of Medieval Ireland * Alternative law in Ireland prior to 1921 * Law of the Republic of Ireland * Law of Northern Ireland The law of Northern Ireland is the legal system ...

out of practical necessity. The

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

were permitted, under march law, to negotiate with Gaelic cattle rustlers, since the English authorities in Ireland were too weak to pursue such felons. Likewise, felonies in the marches were often punishable by a fine where, under English law, they were punishable by death. In the case of certain crimes, the criminal could be imprisoned by his family.

References

{{reflist Medieval Ireland

See also

References