Welsh Journals

Mr. Nelson for putting forward such an interesting proposition, though most will probably feel that the evidence adduced is not enough to upset our traditional picture of the servile west and south-west. H. R. LOYN Cardiff THE LATIN TEXTS OF THE WELSH LAWS. By Hywel David Emanuel. Board of Celtic Studies, University of Wales, History and Law Series, No. XXII. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1967. Pp. xiv, 565. £ 6 6s Od. In recent years the study of the Welsh laws has advanced substantially on several fronts. The volume reviewed here marks a major advance in textual study. Dr. Emanuel had already given us a glimpse of the fruit of his researches on the Latin texts of the Welsh laws in a paper read to the Welsh Laws Colloquium held in 1962. That paper was published in 1963 in a special number of this journal devoted to the proceedings of that Colloquium. Now we have the full Latin versions, together with a great wealth of argument and evidence concerning them. Dr. Emanuel has established from a close scrutiny of the extant manu- scripts that there are five distinct redactions. In the Introduction each version is discussed in turn, and conclusions are drawn concerning a number of points: the exemplars and sources, the process and date of redaction, regional associations or local bias, and the character and nature of the law set forth. Particular attention is paid to the date of the five redactions, ranging from the twelfth century to perhaps the second half of the fourteenth century. Also the inter-dependence of the various Latin versions is brought out clearly. For the editor is most meticulous about identifying and discussing fully the likely sources of each redaction. Even where precise sources are not identified, he is able to offer careful suggestions. There is much stimulating discussion of the legal and political background of the various versions. In dealing with Redaction B, for instance, a short survey is made of the revival of Roman law in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries, followed by a tentative analysis of Roman influence both in form and substance in the earlier texts of the Welsh laws. The Introduction as a whole is a splendid confirmation of the now long familiar view that the Welsh laws are dynamic and flexible in character, in contrast to Irish law which is, by and large, archaic and static. For this analysis of the five Latin redactions certainly presents a picture of change and inter-borrowing, of addition and modification, and also of a remark- able awareness of contemporary trends and influences.