Control of the Means of Production in Early Irish Law

This paper presents a preliminary survey of the evidence presented by early Irish law for changes in the control of the means of production in early medieval Ireland. It tests the hypothesis that early Irish law texts provide evidence that the control of the means of production changed over time. References in law texts to such technological equipment as mills, ploughing equipment and other crucial equipment for the transformation of resources and raw materials into consumable goods are examined, and compared to evidence from archaeology and other historical sources. The paper proposes that what law texts tell us about which social classes or groups exercised effective control over this equipment has the potential to contribute to a discussion of how the social structure of medieval Ireland changed and developed over time. This research was supported under the Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects funding scheme (project number DP120103684)