The fourth chapter discusses the question of why now – why did customary law become the subject of vigorous written output at this particular thirteenth-century moment? The answer lies in the politics of customary law or, more specifically, the changes in both society and legal culture that created new zones of competition between secular and ecclesiastical courts. Competition between the temporal and spiritual jurisdictions was, of course, not new. The investiture controversy that began in the eleventh century, based in the conflict over the right of appointment of church officials, showed this to be a key issue of the high medieval period. The nature of competition manifested in the coutumiers was a little different. The coutumiers aimed to theorize, regularize, and professionalize the secular courts in the face of ecclesiastical courts, which had already gone through the same process and offered a competing forum at a time when boundaries were still being defined.

A breach of promise to marry is a fundamental break of a promise, by either a man or woman, to carry through a marriage.The legal action had its origins in the canon law definition of marriage as a promise between a man and a woman.Ecclesiastical courts had an obligation to ensure that when a promise of marriage was made that both parties recognized that they had entered into a clandestine but valid marriage.In Ireland, civil suits for breach of promise seem to have begun in the middle years of the eighteenth century.It was primarily through the courts that breach of promise to marry cases came to the attention of the public, providing lawyers with lucrative incomes and newspapers with titillating stories for their reading audience. The actual court cases themselves were a form of public entertainment and the court room the arena of performance for witnesses, barristers, judges. Exploring the history of breach of promise cases in Ireland reveals the significance of monetary considerations in marriage negotiations, and the value that was placed on women’s, and men’s, reputations. Such cases also throw light on class, the appropriateness of cross-class relationships and the significance of social status among plaintiffs and defendants.

Marital infidelity was not uncommon in the period covered in this book. Nor was it, for much of the time, a hidden or concealed crime. Newspapers regularly reported on bigamy, criminal conversation, divorce and desertion cases that came before the Irish courts and often involved adulterous behaviour. It is impossible to know how extensive extra-marital sexual behaviour was in any period. In this chapter we explore the attitudes expressed towards adulterous behaviour and couples who cohabited without marrying, how such behaviour reflected upon marital relationships and what it says more generally about sexuality in Irish society.Printed reports and newspaper accounts of trials for criminal conversation were an important medium through which the public became aware of adulterous affairs.This chapter reveals the level of non-conformity that existed in sexual matters amongst individuals and couples over a long time period.Sexual non-conformity can be viewed for instance, in cohabitation, adultery, the keeping of mistresses, and the advantage taken of women servants in households. By the end of the nineteenth century, both the Church and the law increasingly oversaw the implementation of sexual norms in society and perpetuated ideals for male and female sexual behaviour.