A law book for beesSourced
Bees crossed into a neighbour's land.
A 7th-century text took it seriously.
Early medieval Ireland had a legal text on beekeeping called Bechbretha. It discussed hive owners, neighbours and swarms moving onto someone else's land, trying to fit those cases into existing rules on animal trespass.
Even a wandering swarm
could raise a legal question.
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Bechbretha · Wikimedia contributors
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Reviewed: 2026-10-01