1284 decree by King Edward I establishing the Principality of Wales
The
Statute of Rhuddlan
[n 1]
(
Welsh
:
Statud Rhuddlan
), also known as the
Statutes of Wales
(
Latin
:
Statuta Valliae
) or as the
Statute of Wales
(Latin:
Statutum Valliae
), was a royal ordinance by
Edward I of England
, which gave the constitutional basis for the government of the
Principality of Wales
from 1284 until 1536.
The statute followed the
Conquest of Wales by Edward I
and the killing of the last Welsh prince to rule the whole Principality,
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
in 1282. The statute introduced
English common law
to Wales, but also permitted the continuance of Welsh legal practices within the Principality. The statute also introduced the English shire system to the Principality of Wales. Prior to the statute, the Welsh principalities were ruled by
Welsh law
and the native
Princes of Wales
.
Background
[
edit
]
The
Prince of Gwynedd
had been recognised by the English Crown as
Prince of Wales
in 1267, holding his lands with the king of
England
as his
feudal overlord
. It was thus that the English interpreted the title of
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
,
Lord of Aberffraw
, which was briefly held after his death by his successor
Dafydd ap Gruffudd
. This meant that when Llywelyn rebelled, the English interpreted it as an act of treason. Accordingly, his lands
escheated
to the king of England, and Edward I took possession of the
Principality of Wales
by
military conquest from 1282 to 1283
. By this means the principality became "united and annexed" to the
Crown of England
.
[
page needed
]
Following his conquest Edward I erected four new
marcher lordships
in northeast Wales:
Chirk
(
Chirkland
), Bromfield and Yale (
Powys Fadog
), Ruthin (
Dyffryn Clwyd
) and Denbigh (
Lordship of Denbigh
); and one in South Wales,
Cantref Bychan
.
He restored the principality of
Powys Wenwynwyn
to
Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn
who had suffered at the hands of Llewelyn, and he and his successor
Owen de la Pole
held it as a marcher lordship. Rhys ap Maredudd of Dryslwyn would have been in a similar position in
Cantref Mawr
, having adhered to the king during Llewelyn's rebellion, but he forfeited his lands by rebelling in 1287. A few other minor Welsh nobles submitted in time to retain their lands, but became little more than
gentry
.
The
English Crown
already had a means of governing South Wales in the
honours
of
Carmarthen
and
Cardigan
, which went back to 1240. These became counties under the government of the
Justiciar of South Wales
(or of West Wales), who was based in Carmarthen. The changes of the period made little difference in the substantial swathe of land from
Pembrokeshire
through South Wales to the
Welsh Borders
which was already in the hands of the
marcher lords
.
[5]
Nor did they alter the administration of the royal lordships of
Montgomery
and
Builth
, which retained their existing institutions.
Statute
[
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]
The statute also divided Wales into administrations of government via shires which were essentially provinces of the English crown.
[7]
Prior to the statute, the Welsh principalities were ruled by
Welsh law
and the native
Princes of Wales
, the last prince to rule the whole Principality being
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd
, killed in an ambush by the English in 1282.
[7]
The statute was not an
act of Parliament
, but rather a royal
ordinance
made after careful consideration by
Edward I
on 3 March 1284.
[8]
It takes its name from
Rhuddlan Castle
in
Denbighshire
where it was first
promulgated
on 19 March 1284.
[9]
The Statute was superseded by the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542
when
Henry VIII
made Wales unequivocally part of the "realm of England".
[10]
The statute was formally repealed by the
Statute Law Revision Act 1887
.
[11]
Counties
[
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]
The Statute of Rhuddlan was issued from
Rhuddlan Castle
in North Wales, one of the "iron ring" of fortresses built by Edward I to control his newly conquered lands.
It provided the constitutional basis for the government of what was called "The Land of Wales" or "the king's lands of Snowdon and his other lands in Wales", but subsequently called the "Principality of North Wales".
The Statute divided the principality into the
counties
of
Anglesey
,
Merionethshire
,
Caernarfonshire
, and
Flintshire
, which were created out of the remnants of the
Kingdom of Gwynedd
in
North Wales
.
[14]
Flintshire was created out of the lordships of
Tegeingl
, Hopedale, and
Maelor Saesneg
. It was administered with the
Palatinate
of
Cheshire
by the
Justiciar of Chester
.
The other three counties were overseen by a
Justiciar of North Wales
and a provincial exchequer at
Caernarfon
, run by the
Chamberlain of North Wales
, who accounted to the
Exchequer
at
Westminster
for the revenues he collected. Under them were royal officials such as
sheriffs
,
coroners
, and
bailiffs
to collect taxes and administer justice.
[16]
The king had ordered an inquiry into the rents and other dues to which the princes had been entitled, and these were enforced by the new officials. At the local level,
commotes
became
hundreds
, but their customs, boundaries and offices remained largely unchanged.
[
citation needed
]
The Statute introduced the
English common law
system to Wales,
[18]
but the law administered was not precisely the same as in England. The criminal law was much the same, with felonies such as
murder
,
larceny
and
robbery
prosecuted before the justiciar, as in England. The English writs and forms of action, such as
novel disseisin
,
debt
and
dower
, operated, but with oversight from Caernarfon, rather than the distant Westminster. However, the Welsh practice of settling disputes by arbitration was retained. The procedure for debt was in advance of that in England, in that a default judgment could be obtained. In land law, the Welsh practice of
partible inheritance
continued, but in accordance with English practice:
- Daughters could inherit their father's lands if there was no son.
- Widows were entitled to dower in a third of their late husband's lands.
- Bastards
were excluded from inheriting.
Building
[
edit
]
The Parliament House of
Edward III
in
Rhuddlan
where it was thought that the Statute of Rhuddlan was promulgated. Thomas Pennant remarks in 1778, "A piece of antient building called the Parlement is still to be seen in Rhuddlan: probably where the king sat in council."
[20]
Pennant was to get
John Ingleby
to provide a watercolour of the building.
[21]
Today the building still partially stands in Parliament Street, with a late 13th-century doorway and a 14th-century cusped
ogee
door head.
[22]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
The name
Statute of Rutland
has been used erroneously by older authors, including in Blackstone's
Commentaries on the Laws of England
; that name properly refers to an unrelated statute made the same year at
Rutland
in England.
[1]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Compton, C. H. (1878).
"The Ancient Laws and Statutes of Wales"
.
Journal of the British Archaeological Association
. British Archaeological Association.: 452.
- ^
Davies, R. R. (1987),
Conquest, Coexistence and Change: Wales 1063?1415
, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ch. 14,
ISBN
0-19-821732-3
.
- ^
a
b
Watkin, Thomas Glyn (2007).
The Legal History of Wales
. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. pp. 101?114.
ISBN
978-0-7083-2064-8
.
- ^
Francis Jones (1969).
The Princes and Principality of Wales
. University of Wales Press.
ISBN
9780900768200
.
- ^
G. W. S. Barrow (1956).
Feudal Britain: the completion of the medieval kingdoms, 1066?1314
. E. Arnold.
ISBN
9787240008980
.
- ^
The Laws in Wales Act 1535 (
A.D. 1535 Anno vicesimo septimo Henrici VIII c. 26
)
- ^
"Statute Law Revision Act 1887, Schedule"
.
electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB)
.
12 Edw. 1. cc. 1?14 Statuta Wallie (the Statutes of Wales)
- ^
J. Graham Jones (1990).
The history of Wales: a pocket guide
. University of Wales Press. p. 32.
ISBN
978-0-7083-1076-2
. Retrieved
2 March
2011
.
- ^
Brian L. Blakeley; Jacquelin Collins (1993).
Documents in British History: Early times to 1714
. McGraw-Hill. p. 74.
ISBN
978-0-07-005701-2
. Retrieved
2 March
2011
.
- ^
Barnett, Hilaire (2004).
Constitutional and Administrative Law
(5th ed.). Cavendish. p. 59.
- ^
Pennant T. (1778?84)
A Tour in Wales
, pp. 15?16
- ^
"A Tour in Wales, Volume 6 (PD09872) ? National Library of Wales"
.
llgc.org.uk
. Retrieved
13 February
2017
.
- ^
Hubbard (1985), p. 426
Sources
[
edit
]
Primary
- Bowen, Ivor (1908).
The statutes of Wales
. London: T. Fisher Unwin.
pp.
2?27
- Ruffhead, Owen, ed. (1765).
"Statutum Wallie"
.
The Statutes at Large
(in Latin). Vol. 9. London: Mark Basket; Henry Woodfall & William Stratham. Appendix pp. 3?12.
Secondary