Statute of Rhuddlan

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Page from Peniarth MS 41, a 15th-century manuscript of the Statute of Rhuddlan in Welsh

The Statute of Rhuddlan

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

Princes of Wales
.

Background

Main article: Conquest of Wales by Edward I
Rhuddlan Castle

The

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.[2][page needed
]

Following his conquest Edward I erected four new

Cantref Bychan.[3] 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.[4]

The

Builth, which retained their existing institutions.[6]

Statute

The statute also divided Wales into administrations of government via shires which were essentially provinces of the English crown.

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

Henry VIII made Wales unequivocally part of the "realm of England".[10] The statute was formally repealed by the Statute Law Revision Act 1887.[11]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

Marcher barons

The Statute of Rhuddlan was issued from

Maelor Saesneg. It was administered with the Palatinate of Cheshire by the Justiciar of Chester.[15]

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][17] 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]

Law

The Statute introduced the

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:

Building

Edward I Parliament House, Rhuddlan, 1238

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

Footnotes

  1. ^ 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

  1. ^ Compton, C. H. (1878). "The Ancient Laws and Statutes of Wales". Journal of the British Archaeological Association. British Archaeological Association.: 452.
  2. ^ Davies 2000.
  3. ^ Davies 2000, p. 363.
  4. ^ Davies 2000, p. 361.
  5. ISBN 0-19-821732-3
    .
  6. ^ Davies 2000, pp. 357, 364.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7083-2064-8
    .
  8. ISBN 9780900768200
    .
  9. ISBN 9787240008980
    .
  10. ^ The Laws in Wales Act 1535 (A.D. 1535 Anno vicesimo septimo Henrici VIII c. 26)
  11. ^ "Statute Law Revision Act 1887, Schedule". electronic Irish Statute Book (eISB). 12 Edw. 1. cc. 1–14 Statuta Wallie (the Statutes of Wales)
  12. ^ Davies 2000, pp. 357–360.
  13. ^ Davies 2000, p. 356.
  14. ISBN 978-0-7083-1076-2
    . Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  15. ^ Davies 2000, p. 364.
  16. ISBN 978-0-07-005701-2
    . Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  17. ^ Davies 2000, pp. 364–365.
  18. ^ Barnett, Hilaire (2004). Constitutional and Administrative Law (5th ed.). Cavendish. p. 59.
  19. ^ Davies 2000, pp. 367–370.
  20. ^ Pennant T. (1778–84) A Tour in Wales, pp. 15–16
  21. ^ "A Tour in Wales, Volume 6 (PD09872) – National Library of Wales". llgc.org.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  22. ^ Hubbard (1985), p. 426

Sources

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

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