Is bé carnae cluas cáich.

(is * woman * of flesh * hearing/ear * of everyone)

Everyone’s hearing is a whore.

This colorful legal maxim warns that hearsay evidence is unreliable. It is found in Berrad Airechta §59 (CIH ii 596.14). Robin Stacey (“Lawyers and Laymen”, Cardiff, 1986; p. 220) has translated the immediate text as follows:

“Why is a report that is heard [about an event which occurred] in the absence [of the … witness] a dead opinion? For everyone’s hearing is a whore, so that a report that is heard is invalid, whether the matter concerning which a rumour is heard be true or untrue.”

Topics: Maxims & Wise Counsel