VIEWSrnCeltic Justicernby Michael Hillrn”For any displeasure, that they apprehend to be done unto them by their neighbours,rnthey take up a plain field against him, and (without respect to God, King, orrncommonweal) bang it out bravely, he and all his kin, against him and all his.”rn—King James VI of Scotland, Basilikon DoronrnI n the summer of 1997, Ulster Unionist Kenneth Magennisrncalled Sinn Fein leader Martin McGuiness the “Godfatherrnof Godfathers” of the Irish Republican Army. He went on torncastigate the IRA for refusing to disarm its members as a preludernto yet another Anglo-Irish “peace conference.” The thoroughlyrnanglicized Mr. Magennis apparently fails to grasp thatrnthe Celtic Irish (and Scots and Welsh) historically have preferredrnto trust arms over words when it comes to dealing withrnthe British (or English) government, and such trust has notrnbeen misplaced.rnJustice administered by private associations, whether a medievalrnScottish clan or the Irish Republican Army, is a longstandingrntradition in the Celtic world. The monopolization ofrnthe means of force by government has been seen as a prelude tornthe extinction of tradition and fireedom; thus, any attempt by arncentral authority (such as England) to impose a system of justicernfrom the top down usually brought on violent action fromrnbelow. Like the Anglo-Saxons, as David Hume told us, thernMichael Hill is the president of the League of the South and authorrnof Fixe and Sword: Sorley Boy MacDonnell and the Risernof Clan Ian Mor, 1538-90 (Aegis Press).rnCelts realized that the true foundation of independence wasrnthat every man be armed.rnThroughout history the Celtic people have not trusted publicrnjustice as dispensed by the Sassanach. The laws that evolvedrnin the Celtic fringe of the British Isles (Ireland, Scotland, andrnWales) are probably the oldest in Europe and were untouchedrnby Roman influence, except in parts of Wales and lowlandrnScotland. They were the laws of a pastoral folk to whom thernrush of urban life was completely unfamiliar. Under the surfacernof this simple way of life, however, lay a complicated systemrnof jurisprudence rooted in kinship and local sovereignty.rnAt the heart of the Celtic system of private justice lies thernfeud or hereditary vendetta {fich hunaid). According to E. E.rnEvans-Pritchard, the feud was a legal sanction that provided arncommunity the means of enforcing justice, and by such meansrnit was able to minimize the violence that might follow the commissionrnof a violent crime. The principles that lay behind thernfeud defined who had the right to exact vengeance on whomrnand by what means it might be inflicted. These established proceduresrnfor pacifying the aggrieved party were intended to ensurernthat peace, not war, would be the outcome. In the Celticrnworld, however, this was not always the case; often the injuryrnJANUARY 1998/13rnrnrn