Laws of The Court
The first part of the laws deal with the rights and duties of the king and the officers of the king's court. The order of precedence is set down: first the king, then the queen, then the heir. Then come the officers of the court. The Iorwerth Redaction identifies twenty-four, of whom sixteen are the king's officers and eight the queen's officers. First in rank was the captain of the household troops, then the priest of the household, then the steward followed by the chief falconer, the court justice, the chief groom and the chamberlain. A list of additional officers follows, including such officers as the groom of the rein, the porter, the bakeress and the laundress. Each officer's entitlements and obligations are listed.
It introduces a number of legal terms. Sarhad could mean an insult or injury or the payment that was due to a person in the event of an insult or injury, and this varied according to the status of the person concerned, for example the queen or the edling's sarhad was one third that of the king. Galanas was a form of weregild and represented the value of a person's life in the event of a homicide and was set at three times the sarhad, though the sarhad was also payable by the killer. Dirwy was a fine payable for crimes and camlwrw a smaller fine for less serious offences, while ebediw was a death duty payable to the deceased's lord. Sarhad and Dirwy are still Welsh words meaning Insult and Fine respectively,
The origins of the various redactions are reflected in the relative position of the rulers of the Welsh kingdoms. The Iorwerth Redaction manuscripts proclaim the superiority of the king of Aberffraw, chief seat of the kingdom of Gwynedd, over the others, while the manuscripts from Deheubarth claim at least equality for the king of Dinefwr, chief seat of the southern kingdom.
While Welsh law lays more emphasis on the powers of the king than the Brehon Law of Ireland, this is still restricted compared to many other codes. As Moore comments:
| “ | Welsh law fell into the juristic category of Volksrecht ("people's law"), which did not lay great stress on royal power, as opposed to the Kaisersrecht or Königsrecht ("king's law") of both England and Scotland, where it was emphasised that both civil and common law were imposed by the state. | ” |
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