Studies on Celtic Law

THE ANNUAL MARRIAGE.

...annual session which would have required a year and a day original: "l'an et jour" (1). This annual possession would have probably allowed the husband to acquire ownership through usucapion A legal concept where ownership is gained by possessing something or someone for a specific period of time without interruption., and consequently the right to resell the concubine and keep the price of this sale to the detriment of the concubine herself and her parents. One might compare this to the acquisition of Roman manus In Roman law, the legal power or "hand" a husband held over his wife, placing her under his authority. by usage, usu original: "usu"; the acquisition of legal rights through continuous use or habit., continued without interruption for one year (2).

The year of marriage expired in Ireland at a pagan festival, which served as the occasion for a fair. The habit persists, in part of France, of setting the end of rural leases at either the feast of Saint John (June 24) or Saint Martin (November 11); these are the successors to the festivals of Beltene (May 1st) and Samhain (November 1st). As for the specific habit of changing concubines—rented or sold for a year—at a fair every year, we can consider the current Christian custom in the Champagne region of hiring domestic servants (both women and men) for a one-year term starting at the Saint John fair of Troyes (June 24) as a survival, to a certain extent, of this old pagan and Celtic usage.

The successive sale or leasing of a daughter by her father to several husbands (3), even when the previous husbands were not yet dead at the time of the new sales or leases, was a custom contrary to the law of the Gospel. This custom was naturally prohibited by Christianity. What remains of it is the practice of hiring a servant to a master.

(1) "A year and a day" original: "Dia bliadna" in Irish. See Celtic Review original: "Revue Celtique", vol. VII, p. 282; vol. IX, p. 422.
(2) Gaius, Institutes original: "Institutiones", I, § 111. See Voigt, The Twelve Tables original: "Die XII Tafeln", vol. II, p. 226, note 13.
(3) Ancient Laws of Ireland, vol. II, p. 346, l. 9 and following. See vol. III, p. 314, l. 5-10; vol. IV, p. 62, l. 9-11; vol. I, p. 154, l. 11-12.