Every false judge deserves a short life, removal from office, and death without an heir.
In this triad the brehon (or judge) is reminded of the consequences should they err in judgement or pass themselves off as more qualified to mediate a case than they actually were. It holds brehons to the highest standards issuing a curse of death, loss of reputation, and lineage upon them; which amounted to everything in early Irish society,
What makes this triad more interesting is the fact that it was acknowledged, written and propagated by the Brehons themselves, a sort of internal regulation to ensure a high standard of true natural justice prevailed.
This is also reminiscent of references to the brehon’s mysticism and the consequences for their delivering a false judgement. We hear of accounts where a brehon’s face would flare up with boils, or the legend of Morrain, a judge who, it was said, had a magical collar that would sieze up and tighten around his neck were he to issue a false judgement and would only loosen its hold when the true judgement was uttered.
