In about 1074 Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, wrote to Toirdelbach Úa Briain, king of Munster, to complain about the disgraceful and improper practices in Ireland, including the customs surrounding marriage, divorce and concubinage which were regarded as contrary to canon law (p. 23). The practices which Lanfranc may have had in mind are the subject of the group of texts ably edited here by Charlene Eska. The text is entitled Cáin Lánamna, ‘the law of couples’, and is mainly concerned with the division of a couple's assets in the event of divorce, though oddly the causes of divorce are not given in the text. The text presents ten specific types of couple ranging from the highest-status lánamnas comthinchuir ‘union of joint contribution’ (in which each brings broadly similar amounts to the marriage) through lánamnas fir for bantinchur ‘union of a man on a woman's contribution’ (where the man brings little or no property to the marriage) and lánamnas foxail ‘union of abduction’ (where the liaison does not have the approval of the woman's kin) to forms of partnership arising from rape. Like most early Irish law texts, the main text, dating to the beginning of the eighth century, is surrounded by layers of commentary and glossing, some of which is broadly contemporary with the main text (or in the case of some glosses represent an earlier phase of the language than the surviving version of the main text). Readers of this Journal are most likely to go straight to the introduction which sets the text in a broader context (pp. 1–34); it provides a useful description of the structure of medieval Irish society into which the law of marriage and divorce are set, and also then a brief comparative discussion of the similar institutions in medieval Wales and Anglo-Saxon England. The introduction then goes on to introduce the manuscripts (pp. 35–54), and to discuss the relationship between the different sources (only one manuscript presents a complete text [Trinity College, Dublin, ms 1316 (H.2.15A)] (pp. 55–60); this is followed by a discussion of the date of the main text (pp. 61–2) (further information on the date of the various layers of gloss and commentary might usefully have been added here) and a note on editorial method (pp. 63–7). A most useful feature for those keen to get to grips with the text without grappling with too much Old Irish is a description of its structure located helpfully at the end of the introduction (pp. 67–74). A full edition of the text is then presented with an excellent facing translation on pp. 78–299; everything is translated, all the glosses and commentary as well as the main text, so that even without Old Irish (or indeed Middle and early Modern Irish) it is possible to see the way in which later glossators and commentators were thinking about this text. The text is followed by a set of appendices containing editions of the substantial commentary preserved in other manuscripts (pp. 303–41). The volume then closes with a glossary, bibliography and full indices. The text was edited and translated into German by Thurneysen in 1936, but this new edition is a major contribution to our understanding of this legal text which has an importance and significance for all scholars interested in the history of medieval marriage and divorce.