For every rule there is an exception. This is the theme of the circa ninth-century Old Irish text edited in Charlene Eska's A Raven's Battle-Cry. Otherwise known by its Irish name, Anfuigell or “wrong judgments,” the text represents a collection of miscellaneous legal judgments pertaining to circumstances in which the correct judgment is unclear, typically an exception to a standard legal rule. This miscellany offers a unique snapshot of medieval Ireland's complex legal landscape. Previously, scholars had to rely on Anfuigell fragments scattered across the manuscript corpus. Drawing from twenty-six textual witnesses, Eska presents the complete text and translation of Anfuigell along with legal glosses and commentary. With its wide topical range, the text will certainly interest scholars of Irish law and of early medieval law generally.

Eska organizes the book in a logical fashion. An extensive introduction lays out the editorial method, along with an explanation of manuscript sources and dating. As with her 2010 book, Cáin Lánamna: An Old Irish Tract on Marriage and Divorce Law, Eska aids the reader in tackling this thorny text by providing a section-by-section summary of the law tract. This summary is invaluable, giving the reader a convenient way to skim for relevant content. But more importantly, this also allows Eska to comment discursively on difficult aspects of Anfuigell and provide citations to broader medieval Irish historiography. In the facing-page translation, Eska presents the difficult Irish legal vocabulary in intelligible English. The technical terms found in the main text are also fully explained in the book's glossary.

The volume ends with six appendices, the first consisting of text and translation of three extended commentaries on Anfuigell. Too often, editions of Old Irish texts omit the Middle and Early Modern Irish commentary frequently found in the manuscript sources. Eska's inclusion of the commentary allows the reader to view Anfuigell not as a product of a single jurist writing in a single moment in time, but instead, as a juristic tradition spanning centuries.

As with most early Irish law, Anfuigell is neither case law nor a record of legislative activity. Instead, it appears to have functioned as a “textbook” of sorts, meant to instruct jurists, perhaps students, on how to handle certain unintuitive legal situations. Some provisions in Anfuigell are strikingly familiar, such as the statement in §9 that pledges made under fear or duress lack legal validity, or §34, which states that a person is not liable for injuring an attacker in self-defense. Other sections illustrate sociolegal institutions unique to Irish society, such as §21, which details how to resolve property disputes between individuals of different social classes, highlighting Ireland's rigid caste system.

Some provisions in Anfuigell seem surprisingly practical. On the surface, §41 may appear unusual in recognizing the validity of contracts made while intoxicated. However, the text elaborates on the circumstances to consider in determining such a contract's validity. First, one should determine whether the contract is as advantageous as it would have been if the parties were sober. If not, the disadvantaged party must re-acknowledge the contract within 24 hours of becoming sober. Finally, and most humorously, the validity of the drunken contract is contingent upon the ability of both parties to remember their agreement the next morning! For a society where most socializing, and therefore most opportunities to form a contract, occurred at drinking parties, Anfuigell's approach seems quite grounded. The text reflects a general concern with ensuring that both parties actually intended to form a contract and mitigating the negative potential of drunken promises. At the same time, the legal system reflected in Anfuigell acknowledges that sometimes business will be done over drink, and will be done perfectly well. Such a look into the practical operations of medieval Irish society is invaluable to legal scholars and historians alike.

Any difficulty with the volume lies not with Eska's work as editor, but with the nature of the text itself. Like other Irish legal texts, Anfuigell is unwieldy. A reader already familiar with Irish law will find A Raven's Battle-Cry not only perfectly usable, but almost luxurious in the abundance of notes and commentary. However, for the scholar new to Irish law, the going will be slow. Eska does her best to aid the reader, but it might be necessary to read the text alongside some of the primers mentioned in the introduction. In my opinion, the effort is well worth it.

Ultimately, Anfuigell is a welcome piece of scholarship. The early Irish legal record, although extensive, is fairly inaccessible. Most texts are only known from manuscript fragments, and for this reason, editions such as A Raven's Battle-Cry are valuable. Eska's work in “freeing” these texts is vital to the survival of medieval Irish legal studies, especially at a time when fewer Celticists are engaged in textual editing and active discovery of new texts. There is an abundance of Irish legal material and many more texts to discover. When found and well edited, these texts have the potential to radically transform not only our understanding of medieval Ireland, but also Ireland's contribution to the greater European legal tradition.