Among the changes produced in the social organisation of the tribe by external influence and internal progress, not the least striking was the gradual development within it of the Finé or septs. Though the word Finé is undoubtedly used for the whole confraternity of the members of the tribe, viewed as a community united together by a supposed common origin, yet, in its strict technical sense, it was applied to those divisions of the tribe which may be called septs or clans.

As soon as the superior advance of some members of the tribe over the others in wealth and importance produced a relation of superior and dependant by the latter becoming Ceile or tenants of the former, while their possessions became hereditary in their families, the germ of the Finé or sept was formed. When the Boaire, or cow-lord, was led by wealth in cattle to give over the excess of his stock to other members of the tribe, who became his Ceile or dependants, a Finé in its most restricted sense was formed, and the Aire Coisring, as he was called, became also the Aire Finé, or head of an inferior sept.^[193]

The acquisition of part of the tribe land as the absolute property of individuals, and their advance as wealthy land as well as cattle owners, led to its further development. The Aire who owned an estate in land which raised him to the position of a Flath or chief, and was enabled to transmit it to his descendants, led to the settlement of his family and kinsfolk on the land. He was not considered as fully entitled to the privileges of a territorial lord unless his father and grandfather had likewise been an Aire; and when three generations had thus been settled on the land, the offshoots of these generations formed a group consisting of the nearest agnates of the chief, which would increase in number as the generations went on. These were the Ciné, or kinsfolk of the head of the tribe, and to them were added those freemen of the tribe who claimed a common origin with them, and who placed themselves under the chief as his Ceile or dependants.

The same causes which operated in the feudal system to lead the odal proprietors to commend themselves to an overlord as his vassals, and gradually extinguished the more ancient class of independent landholders, tended likewise in the Irish tribal system to absorb the original freemen of the tribe in the class of the Ceile or dependants of the chief, and thus to add to his following and to form a constituent part of the Finé or sept.

With the Saor Ceile, or free dependants, the basis was a mutual contract for a fixed period usually of seven years, by which the Flath or chief gave a portion of stock proportionate to the food-rent he was to receive in return, and was entitled along with this to the homage of the tenant during the subsistence of the contract, and to a certain amount of service in the erection of a Dun or fort, the reaping of his harvest, and the Sluaged or hosting; but the contract could be terminated and the parties to it return to their original relation to each other, either by the Ceile or tenant returning the stock he had received, or by the Flath reclaiming it. A more permanent connection was formed between him and the Daor Ceile or bond tenant. Here the Ceile placed himself formally under the protection of the Flath as his permanent follower, and this relation was formed by his receiving a certain number of Seds or cows, by way of subsidy or gift from the superior, and paying him a certain tribute termed Sed Taurclothe, or returnable Seds, as the price of his protection. This servitude was termed Aicillne, and the amount of the Seds was regulated by the Honor price. As soon as this relation was constituted, he received an additional amount of stock in proportion to the food-rent he had to return, in the same manner as in the case of the free Ceile.^[194] The real distinction probably was, that in the one case the Ceile was in a more independent position, and possessed stock of his own as well as a share of the tribe land, besides what he received from the Flath. In the other he was dependent upon what he received from the Flath for the whole of his stock. When the Flath reclaimed his stock from the free Ceile, the latter had the option of becoming a bond Ceile, if he preferred doing so to returning his stock, and the Flath was then bound to add the returnable Seds to the stock he had originally given, which constituted the relation between him and the Ceile as a permanent dependant. This process, therefore, not only led to the freemen of the tribe being gradually absorbed into the class of the dependants or following of the chief, but placed a powerful weapon in the hands of the latter, by which he could transform his temporary free Ceile into permanent and more servile dependants.

As the Flath, however, increased in wealth and power and his territory extended, he was not satisfied with drawing his dependants from the tribe of which he was himself a member, but added to his followers by settling stranger septs upon his waste lands, and thus still further augmented his power. These stranger septs formed that class termed Fuidhir, a name which from its resemblance to the word feud, and from the apparent analogy between the position of the Fuidhir with the vassals of the feudal system, has given rise to much speculation. These analogies are, however, more apparent than real, and there is probably no connection whatever beyond casual resemblance between the terminology of the two systems. In the oldest Glossary, that of Cormac, the term is applied to the superior instead of the dependant, and the name Fuithir is said to be from fo thir, he who gives land (tir) to a stranger; but in the Brehon Laws it is applied to those stranger septs settled upon the land, and, like all the dependants, consisted of the two classes of Saer and Daer, free and bond, according to the temporary or permanent character of the connection. With the exception that they were broken men from stranger tribes instead of members of the same tribe, their connection with the chief presented the same features with that of the native Ceile. Of these Fuidhir there were said to be seven classes, ranging from those who had land or wealth and became detached from their tribe, to those who fled to the chief of another tribe for protection, and had nothing to give but their labour. The better class, termed Fuidhir Grian, obtained possession of a Rath consisting of the usual five houses, received stock from the Flath similar to that given to the Ceile, and had a Lagenech or Honor price. These formed subordinate septs or Finé under the chief,^[195] and we are told that they ‘do not bear the liability of relationship unless there be five houses (Treabba) to relieve each other. If there be five houses with complete stock, they share the property of the Finé’ (Finnteada), and this is explained in the commentary to mean that ‘the Fuidhir gabla—that is, the Fodaor or natural bondsman (Daor)—does not bear the crimes of his relatives unless he has five houses to relieve him, that is, five who have stock consisting of a hundred head of cattle, and unless they belong to one chief. If there be five men of them, each man having a hundred of cattle, every one of them obtains his share of the dibadh land of each other, and pays for the crimes of others, like every free native, that is, when they have the five stocks of a hundred cattle and are under one chief.^[196] The lower class of Fuidhir were of four kinds, termed grui, gola, gabla, and gill de bas, and consisted of strangers who had lost their land by wars, or fled from having been guilty of bloodshed, and of hostages saved from death. Lower than these again were the Bothach or cottiers, likewise divided into the two classes of Saer and Daer according as they were either small occupiers of land or were prædial slaves, and probably were remains of the oldest population of the land.

The formation of the Finé or sept had thus a territorial basis, and the possession of the Deis or inheritance land, which gave its owner the rank of Aire, was also essential to his acquiring the privileges of the chief of a Finé. Thus we are told in one of the law tracts that ‘there are four deis rights prescribed for flaith or chiefs. The ancient protection of the Tuath is his office in the Tuath; the office of Tuisig or leader, or Tanaist Tuisig, whichever it be, of his Ceile gialnai or bond Ceile, his Saer Ceile, and his Sencleithe or ancient adherents; the punishment of every imperfect service; and the following of Bothach or cottiers and Fuidhir, whom he brings upon his land, because his wealth is greater and better. If there is service from them to the Flaith during nine times nine years, they are Bothach and Fuidhir, but after that they are ranked as Sencleithe or old adherents.’^[197]

The Finé, as thus constituted, was formed of two distinct classes;—one being members of the same tribe as the Flath, and consisted of his own immediate family and relations, and of his Saor and Daor Ceile; the other of stranger septs and broken men from other tribes, who were settled on the land, and formed a class of subordinate followers. The basis was a territorial one; but while the authority and privileges of the chief were derived from his deis, there was likewise a bond of union between him and the former class, derived from community of blood, and he added to his territorial rights the natural claim to their allegiance arising from his position as a hereditary chief of their Tuath, as well as the right to punish imperfect service. The most important of these services on the part of the Ceile was the duty of following their chief to war. The Book of Aicill, one of these law tracts, tells us, ‘A chief may enforce a Sloiged or hosting;’ and the commentator explains, ‘That is, there is a smacht fine, upon a Daor Ceile of the Gradfeine, that is, of the ranks below the Aires, for not going to it, and for coming away from it; double work upon the Saor Ceile of the Grad Feine for not going to it, and Honor price for coming away from it.’ Another and perhaps more ancient tract in the Brehon Laws gives us likewise a view of the Finé. There we are told, ‘These are the divisions of the Finé of each Flath or chief. His Fuidhir, his Ciniud or kinsfolk, his Gabail fodagniat (under which name his Ceile are comprised), all of whom go by the name of Flaith Finé, or the chiefs Finé or sept.’^[198]

That division of the Finé which was formed of those of the same tribe as the Flath or chief consisted of two distinct elements, the first being the Ciniud or near kinsmen of the Flath, and the second of those of the tribe who became his dependants and followers. The first, as descended from the original founder of the sept, had hereditary claims upon his land, as well as duties and privileges derived from kin to the chief, while the rights and duties of the latter were founded on contract; and here we come in contact with one of the most difficult and obscure features of the Finé constitution, viz., that institution by which the duties and the privileges arising from kindred with the chief are limited to an artificial group of seventeen persons, which again was divided into four lesser groups, termed respectively Geilfiné, Deirbhfiné, Iarfiné, and Indfiné. These formed the Duthaig Finé, or the sept in its narrowest sense. The Geilfiné consisted of five persons, and each of the others of four, making seventeen in all. Upon these four groups of kinsmen appears, in the first place, to have been imposed a joint responsibility for each member of it. Thus, we find in the Senchus Mor, that ‘the four nearest Finé bear the crimes of each kinsman of their stock, Geilfiné and Deirbhfiné, Iarfiné and Indfiné;^[199] and in a commentary on the Senchus Mor, they are termed ‘the four nearest Finé or families,’ that is, ‘because it is four Finés that sustain the liabilities of every person that is related to them intimately.’^[200] They likewise possessed mutual rights of succession in the dibad of the chief, or the land which passed to his kinsfolk. These rights are very elaborately stated in the Book of Aicill, but it is necessary to give them in detail in order to understand the nature of this grouping of the kinsfolk. In answer to the question, ‘What is the reciprocal right among Finé?’ we are told that ‘if the Geilfiné division become extinct, three-fourths of the dibad of the Geilfiné shall go to the Deirbhfiné, and one-fourth to the Iarfiné and the Indfiné—viz., three-fourths of the fourth to the Iarfiné, and one-fourth of it to the Indfiné.

‘If the Deirbhfiné division has become extinct, three-fourths of its dibad goes to the Geilfiné, and one-fourth to the Iarfiné and Indfiné’—that is, three-fourths of the fourth to the Iarfiné, and a fourth of it to the Indfiné.

‘If the Iarfiné division has become extinct, three-fourths of its dibad shall go to the Deirbhfiné, and one-fourth of it to the Geilfiné and Indfiné—that is, three-fourths of the fourth to the Geilfiné, and one-fourth of it to the Indfiné.

‘If the Indfiné has become extinct, three-fourths of its dibad shall go to the Iarfiné, and one-fourth of it to the Geilfiné and Deirbhfiné—that is, three-fourths of the fourth to the Deirbhfiné, and one-fourth of it to the Geilfiné.

‘If the Geilfiné and Deirbhfiné both become extinct, three-fourths of their dibad shall go to the Iarfiné, and one-fourth to the Indfiné.

‘If the Indfiné and Iarfiné both become extinct, three-fourths of their dibad shall go to the Deirbhfiné, and one-fourth to the Geilfiné.

‘If the Deirbhfiné and Iarfiné have both become extinct, three-fourths of their dibad shall go to the Geilfiné, and one-fourth to the Indfiné.

‘If the Geilfiné and Indfiné have both become extinct, three-fourths of the dibad of the Geilfiné shall go to the Deirbhfiné, and one-fourth of it to the Iarfiné; three-fourths of the dibad of the Indfiné shall go to the Iarfiné, and one-fourth to the Deirbhfiné.’

This seems to exhaust all possible combinations, and some provisions follow which are not very easily understood; but when it is added, ‘And the whole number of the seventeen men are then forthcoming, and if they be not, there shall be no partition, but the nearest of kin shall take it,’ the meaning seems to be that the group of seventeen persons must be made up in each case, but if that cannot be done, there is no partition of the dibad to the person nearest in degree to the extinct family.

We are also told that ‘the Geilfiné is the youngest and the Indfiné the oldest,’ and that ‘if one person has come up into the Geilfiné so as to make it excessive, that is, more than five persons, a man must go out of it up into the Deirbhfiné, and a man is to pass from one Finé into the other up as far as the Indfiné, and a man is to pass from that into the Duthaig n-Daine or community.’^[201]

It is exceedingly difficult to form anything like a clear conception of the true nature of what appears to be so highly artificial an arrangement, and it is probable that if it ever really existed in its entirety, it must soon have broken down under the various modifications which the natural progress of society brought to bear upon the community. So far as we can gather, there seems undoubtedly to have been the tie of kindred among themselves, and between them and the chief; and a portion of the territory of the Flath appears to have been assigned to them under the name of dibad, the portion occupied by each group being possessed in common by its members, so that it was only when the subordinate groups became extinct that a redistribution of it took place.

Of what members of the Finé, then, did each of these groups really consist? There seems to be no doubt as to the number which formed the members of each. The Geilfiné consisted of five persons only, who were nearest of kin to the chief, but these might be found either in the descending or ascending line, or were, in the strictest sense of the term, collateral. The descending line was termed Belfiné, and the Geilfiné consisted of the father, the son, the grandson, the great-grandson, and the great-great-grandson, to the fifth generation. The ascending line was termed Culfiné, or back family, and we are told that, viewed in this connection, the Geilfiné consisted of the father’s brother, and his son, to the fifth generation.^[202] The collateral relationship was termed Taobhfiné, or side family; and, according to Mr. O’Donovan and the authorities he refers to, the Geilfiné is defined as ‘the first or direct family; the father and his two sons, and two grandsons; collateral tribe.’ The Deirbhfiné as ‘the second tribe; the next in point of dignity to the Geilfiné; the two grandsons and their two sons.’ The Iarfiné as ‘the after family; two sons of grandsons and their sons, making four persons;’ and Indfiné as ‘the fourth and lowest division of a tribe.’^[203] He does not define the members of which it consists, but it may be inferred that he held it to consist of the two sons of great-grandsons and their sons, corresponding to the five generations of the Brehon Laws.

The father, who in each case was the head of the Geilfiné, is evidently the person frequently referred to in these Laws as the Geilfiné chief, and the other four members of this group were evidently his nearest agnates, according to the position of the family, but the members of the other three groups, as presented to us in these Laws, cannot be viewed as his descendants. The Deirbhfiné, Iarfiné, and Indfiné, were obviously collateral and contemporary with the Geilfiné, otherwise it is impossible that they could, on the one hand, have been jointly responsible for a kinsman, or, on the other, have shared in the succession of each as they became extinct; and we can gather from several expressions in the Laws that such was the case. Thus we find in the Senchus Mor the seventeen persons are termed relatives, and are defined in the commentary as ‘kinsmen’ (Bleogain),^[204] and these are distinguished as Tobach, Saigi, and Bleogain, or kinsmen in general.^[205] In another commentary these terms are thus defined: ‘Tobach, that is, the nearest kinsman, that is, the liability of his son and grandson. Saigi, that is, the middle kinsman, that is, the liability of a kinsman as far as seventeen. Bleogain, that is, kinsman, that is, the farthest kinsman or Cin.’^[206] The first obviously refers to the constituent members of the Geilfiné; the second to the three other groups; and the third to the remainder of the kin of the chief who did not belong to these artificial groups.

Again, we are told that ‘the tribe property (Finntiu) is claimed backwards; it is divided between three Finé; an extern branch stops it, if the five persons perish. Except as regards the liability of relationship, if the family become extinct; except a fourth part to the Findfiné. From seventeen men out it is decided that they are not a Duthaig Finé, or tribe community,’ and this is explained in the commentary to mean that ‘the hereditary right of the Geilfiné group goes backwards to the Deirbhfiné, who have their share of it when it is divided among the three Finé, that is, the dibad land is divided between the three Finé groups, viz., the Deirbhfiné, the Iarfiné, and the Indfiné. An extern branch stops it, that is, the branch by which the land is detained is a branch that is hitherto extern to the Geilfiné, that is, the Deirbhfiné.’ The liability of relationship is explained that, ‘as they share the dibad land, so they shall pay for the crimes of their relatives.’ It is added that, ‘from the seventeen men out, it is then they are distinguished, so that they are not a Duthaig Finé or tribe community, but a Duthaig n-Daine, or a community of people.’^[207]

From these notices it is apparent that there underlies the formation of these groups the idea of five generations. These were expressed by the terms Athair, father, Mac, son, Ua, grandson, Earmua, great-grandson, Innua, great-great-grandson, and that each of the four groups was one generation less than the other, the Geilfiné, or white family, being the chiefs immediate family, including himself;^[208] but it must not be supposed that these degrees of relationship implied descent from the same individual, otherwise it would require that the five generations were alive at the same time. The idea rather is that it required five generations from the founder of the Finé to complete the group of seventeen persons. Thus his own immediate family, to the number of four, constituted his Geilfiné. Then as each new person was born into the Geilfiné, the older member passed into a new group termed Deirbhfiné, and this went on till the group extended to nine persons; then, as new members were born to these two, older members passed into another group called Iarfiné,; and so on, as new generations were added, till the group of Indfiné was formed, and the whole number of seventeen was completedcompleted, the members of each being fathers and sons, and representing the fourth and fifth generations from the common ancestor; and as generations went on, the kin or kinsfolk of the chief passed through the alembic of these four groups and disappeared into the commonalty of the Finé, leaving always a residuum of seventeen persons behind them. These relationships, then, meant not descent from the same individual but from the founder of the Finé, and expressed the distance of each group from the stem-line of hereditary chiefs, and the degrees of relationship between them and the chief for the time being. This view of the degrees of relationship, as connected with the five generations, seems to be implied in one of the regulations regarding ‘Saer stock tenure.’ We are there told that ‘if one chief has received stock from another, there shall be no returning of the Saer stock without Seds, in that case until one heir transmits to another.’ ‘If it is from the chief next to him he has taken it, it is grandson upon grandson, or great-grandson upon great-grandson, or the son of a great-grandson upon the son of a great-grandson, and the number of degrees which are between the person who gave the stock and the person to whom it is given, is the number of relatives who shall claim the stock without Seds of Saer stock.’^[209]

The Geilfiné were thus what was termed youngest cadets; and the Indfiné, the oldest cadets, recognised as forming part of the kin, and as longest separated from the chief, were the most powerful family next to his own.

The following table, in which the succession to the dibad land is included, will show this conception of the nature of these groups:—

It is hardly possible that so complicated a system should have long remained intact through all the changes produced in the social system of these tribes by the mere course of time; and it probably, at least to some extent, broke down under the growing importance of the family of the oldest cadet, which became more and more independent the longer it was separated from that of the chief, and so would narrow the group which formed his kin; and thus we see that as it became the most powerful family next to his, there came to be alternate election of the king or chief from these two families, the head of the one being always nominated Tanist to the other.