THE LAW OF TANISTRY from the Prime Minister or Chief Justice of King Feredach, A. D. 96, and was fabled to warn the wearer by its increased pressure when about to pronounce1 an erroneous judgment. This custom of wearing the collar of gold is gracefully alluded to by the poet Thomas Moore in one of his Irish Melodies. Let Erin remember the days of old, Ere her faithless sons betrayed her, When Malachi wore the collar of gold, Which he won from a proud invader.
This order was instituted by King Munemore and was the only title of honor used by the Milesians after that of king. The modern degrees of royalty such as duke, marquis, and earl were unknown to the Milesians. The distribution of the shares of land was a duty entrusted to the ruler, and each district was deemed the common property of the entire sept. The tillers had no property in the soil, and cultivation of the different tracts had no charms for them. The tanists alone were assigned an in alienable portion of the mesnal land; all the others were tenants at will of the chieftain and removable without the formality of a notice. This state of affairs caused frequent bloodshed and internal disorder. Election of tanists, accessions of new chiefs, banish ment of members of the sept, reception of new members, kept the land in a constant state of fluctuation, and gavel-kind tenure prolonged and perpetuated the evil. This feudal system of assigning to the dignitaries of the tribe certain portions of the demesne land was borrowed from the Hebrews. An example of the same custom is found in the fourth chapter of the Book of Genesis. A good illustration of the Irish law of tenure and tanistry is very clearly laid down
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in an inquisition taken at Mallow on October 25, 1594, before Sir T. Norris, vice-president of Munster, W. Saxey, Esq., and J. Gould, Esq., justices of said province, by virtue of a commission from the Lord Deputy and council dated the preceding a6th of June. It is found among other things, "That Conogher O'Callaghan, alias the O'Callaghan, was and is seized of several large territories in the inquisition recited in his demesne, as lord and chieftain of Poble O'Callaghan by the Irish custom time out of mind used; that as O'Callaghan aforesaid is lord of the said country so then is a tanist who is Teig O'Callaghan, and the said Teig is seized as tanist by the said custom of several plough-lands in the inquisition mentioned, which also finds that the custom is further, that every kinsman of the O'Callaghan had a parcel of land to live upon, and yet that no estate passed thereby; but that the lord and the O'Callaghan for the time being, by custom time out of mind, may remove the said kinsman to other lands : and the inquisition further finds, that O'Callaghan MacDermod, Irrelagh O'Callaghan, Teig MacCahir O'Calla ghan, Donogh MacThomas O'Callaghan, Cormon Genkagh O'Callaghan, Dermod Bane O'Callaghan, and Shane MacTeige O'Callaghan, were seized of several ploughlands according to said custom, subject, nevertheless, to certain seigniories and duties payable to the O'Callaghan, and were removable by him to other lands at his pleasure." From a study of the foregoing, the reader will perceive that government by the chieftain of the clan was a decided success. The members of the clan paid to the chief every homage due his high station, and he in return carefully guarded their humble interest. BOSTON, MASS., October, 1908.
