Brehon law and American Indian law are relevant to the development of alternative methods of dispute resolution and to the recognition of aboriginal rights in international law, according to Mr James W. Zion, chief solicitor of the Navajo nation of American Indians. Both were about group identity and using relationships to solve problems, he said.
Mr Zion was speaking at the Brehon Law Project symposium in Dublin over the weekend, where he pointed out that in 1999, the Minister for Justice had said the roots of restorative justice lay in Celtic tradition and in Brehon law.
"Unfortunately, the Irish judiciary's plan for the 21st century does not include Brehon law," he said, "but one of the purposes of conferences such as this is to educate people to change policies.
"Traditional law often seems distant, complex, esoteric and not very understandable. (But) when traditional law is viewed as a system of very human values, it can be understood."
Ms Justice Denham acknowledged that Brehon law was not part of the general law of the land, with a few exceptions. However, she said, interest in it was growing, and she welcomed the fact that the Law Society was planning to introduce an optional short series of lectures on it for student solicitors. She was launching the first issue of the Brehon Law Review, an on-line journal on the subject.
She said there were two areas where echoes of Brehon law could be found in the Irish courts of the future. One was their move to being paperless, as a result of the use of information technology. Brehon law courts were paperless because of their reliance on oral tradition.
She said there had been a campaign by the first Irish Chief Justice, Mr Justice Kennedy, to replace the judicial wigs and gowns - inherited from British rule - with judicial robes inspired by the Brehons of Ireland. While his campaign was unsuccessful, some of the sketches for these gowns are on display in the chambers of the Supreme Court.
"Perhaps there is merit in judicial court robes echoing the great historical heritage of early Irish law," she said.
"If an Irish judge were to wear such a gown (a modern version of the Celtic cape) it would have an unusual consequence. Such a gown would be more similar to the judicial robes worn by other judges in the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom) or the European Court of Justice than the wigs and gowns worn today in Ireland."