Who owns a swarm of bees? And what happens when they stray onto a neighbour’s land?
In early medieval Ireland, such questions were addressed by a remarkable set of laws known as the Bechbretha, which set out the rights and responsibilities associated with beekeeping. Also known as bee-judgments, these laws formed part of the wider medieval Irish legal system, Brehon law (known in Old Irish as fénechas or customary law).
