The early Irish law-tract Bechbretha 'Bee-judgements' was mainly worked out by analogy with law-tracts on domestic animals. Several times, it is even the cow which is used as model, one the most valuable animal in Medieval Irish society. The aim of this study is to understand the motivations that lead the author of Bechbretha to elaborate jugdements on bees from a so different animal, i.e. the cow. The answers should be found through examination of the relationship between bees and cows in the fields of Irish diet, literary traditions and law-tracts.