“ It was during the reign of the great Tudor monarch, Henry the Eighth, that the most important statutes relating to Wales were passed. The strong personal character of that King, the importance of his initiative, his extraordinary power of carrying the nation with him, and his paternal but despotic policy, thinly disguised under constitutional reforms, are seen throughout the provisions of the many Acts relating to Wales passed by his subservient Parliaments. ”

“ The wishes of the humble Welsh suitors were not so much regarded as the ambition of the nobility and landed proprietors of that time to make Wales a part of the judicial system of England. There was considerable danger in the alteration, for it was a change, from a fairly efficient method of judicature which had grown after three centuries of useful working into a national institution easily capable of being reformed, to the acknowledged defects and notorious costliness of the English system. ”

“ Henceforth, flattered by the knowledge that a King, proud of his Welsh ancestry, was ruler of Great Britain; treated with a sympathy they had never previously experienced; and judiciously managed by statesmanlike legislation based upon the concession of equal rights and full privileges, the people of the Principality and Dominion of Wales entered upon a more peaceful era. ”

“ The ancient right of English members of the House of Commons to receive "wages," though it has long fallen into desuetude, was not created by any statute, neither has it ever been repealed by statute. It was a right to receive 4s. a day, if a knight of the county, and 2s. a day if a citizen or burgess, "and so it hath been time out of mind, which is particularly expressed in many records." It is worthy of note that the Acts of Union relating to Scotland and Ireland do not contain any reference to or provision for the payment of members of Parliament. ”

“ The parliamentary enactments relating to Wales have not been, and are not now, easily accessible. There are very few libraries which contain a complete collection of the statutes at large. I have collected in this volume all the Acts of Parliament and parts thereof which refer to Wales, in order that they may be placed, for the first time, within the reach of those who are interested in the constitutional development and history of the Welsh nation. ”

“ And whereas the people of Wales have besought us that we would grant unto them, that concerning their possessions immovable, as lands and tenements, the truth may be tried by good and lawful men of the neighbourhood, chosen by consent of parties; and concerning things movable, as of contracts, debts, sureties, covenants, trespasses, chattels, and all other movables of the same sort, they may use the Welsh Law whereto they have been accustomed ”

“ In dealing with Amobragium, or "Amobr" (the fee payable to the Lord by his tenant on the marriage of the latter's daughter) , the Ordinances set up a limit of time (within a year) when the fine could be enacted, and declared also that it should be levied only in those cases in which under the Princes of Wales it could be levied. These fines were farmed out to "amoberers," who greatly oppressed and impoverished the people. ”

“ The inhabitants of these counties had been beaten, maimed, grievously wounded, and sometimes murdered for attempting to pursue felons into Wales or the Marches, so a penalty was imposed of one year's imprisonment over and above the punishment inflicted in the ordinary course of law.
The last Welsh Act of 1534 (26 Henry 8, c. 12) was "An Act for purgation of convicts in Wales" ordering that Welsh clerks convicted of petty treason, murder and other offences were to give surety before two Justices of the county where the ordinary's prison was situated, or else of the adjoining county. ”

“ The Welsh Sheriffs formerly had been elected for life, and, it is said, "sought more to enrich themselves by the office than to see justice administered." Sheriffs rendered accounts to the auditor for Wales, each sheriff having a yearly fee of £5. An escheator, who attended to the King's revenues and seized all escheated goods and forfeited lands, was appointed for every county. The sheriffs were to hold their monthly county courts and their hundred courts for pleas under forty shillings, as was the custom in England. ”

“ It is ordained and stablished that no Englishman lieged to our Sovereign Lord the King be convict by any Welshman within Franchises or without, in any County Hundred or Court within the lands of Wales, of whatsoever Estate, but by Englishmen, and of the next venue, and people of good fame and not procured, nor that the English Burgesses which have married Welsh women have franchises with the English Burgesses. ”

“ But if the defendant appear he shall be received to answer without having a view of the land; and the woman's demand being made, the tenant shall be directed to answer if he can allege anything wherefore she ought not to have her dower; and if he can allege nothing, the woman shall recover, as above. If he should object that she ought not to have her dower because she was never espoused in lawful matrimony to him whom she calleth her husband, then the Bishop shall be charged to make inquiry of the truth thereof: and that inquiry made, he shall certify it to the Justice of Wales. ”

“ He said, in the House of Commons, on December 18, 1780, that he thought that the addition of a judge to each of the English Courts at Westminster would be sufficient for Wales, but his original plan was to abolish five out of the eight Welsh judgeships which existed, and to throw the counties into districts. His opposition to the Welsh judicature was on account of expense, and not upon general grounds. In 1798, a Select Committee of the House of Commons on finance in Courts of Justice recommended that the four Circuits in Wales should be amalgamated. ”

“ Lords of the Marches of WALES shall be attendant to the Crown of England, and not to the Principality OF WALES. Item, it is accorded and established. That all the Lords of the Marches of Wales shall be perpetually attending and annexed to the Crown of England, as they and their ancestors have been all times past, and not to the Principality of Wales, in whose hands soever the same Principality be, or hereafter shall come. ”

“ It is ordained and established that no thief nor felon in Wales, openly known, be suffered to disclaim out of the Seigniory where the felony was done; and that such manner of disclaiming be utterly put out; and that as well the said thieves openly known, as other thieves, be put to answer as privy to the indictments or accusement in the same Seigniories where the thieves be taken, without being delivered by disclaiming, or by Letters of Mark in any manner. ”

“ And morever hath ordained by the authority aforesaid, That all grants of franchises, markets, fairs and other liberties to buy or to sell (to bake, or to brew, and to sell,) within the towns of North Wales, made to any Welshman before this time shall be voided and of no value. And that all the villains of our Sovereign Lord the King within North Wales shall be bound and constrained to do such labour and services as they of right have used to do of old time, notwithstanding any grant made to them or any usage used by them of a later time to the contrary ”

“ Its preamble recites that the "people of Wales and the Marches of the same not dreading the good and wholesome statutes and laws of this realm, have of long time continued and persevered in the perpetration and commission of divers thefts, murders, rebellions, wilful burning of houses, and other scelerous deeds, to the high displeasure of God, disquiet of the King's well disposed subjects, and disturbing of the public weal, which deeds were so rooted and fixed in the same people, that they were not likely to cease unless some sharp correction and punishment was provided." ”

“ The historical consequences of the introduction of English land laws, entailing the abolition of the system of Welsh land tenures, were important Welsh tribal customs and tenure were ousted by a long and difficult process. Not even the vigour of Tudor administration could by statutory process alter the ancient national conditions. The result has generally been that the smaller holdings of the Welsh yeomen have gradually disappeared and following the legislation of Henry the Eighth the modern landlord system, with its great estates, has been developed. ”

“ A Secretary of State may from time to time appoint any fit persons to be inspectors (under whatever title he may from time to time fix) of mines, and assign them their duties, and may award them such salaries as the Treasury may approve, and may remove any such inspector: Provided always, that in the appointment of inspectors of mines in Wales and Monmouthshire, among candidates otherwise equally qualified, persons having a knowledge of the Welsh language shall be preferred. ”

“ By section 2, the Welsh laws of inheritance appertaining to the descent of manors, lands, and other hereditaments were abolished, and the laws of inheritance and other laws of England were to be used and executed in Wales in lieu thereof, but it was also provided by the 35th section of this Act that "lands, tenements, and hereditaments lying in Wales," which have "been used time out of mind by the laudable customs of the said country should be departible among issues and heirs male as if this Act had never been had nor made." ”

“ The extinction of piracy made the coasts safe for trade. Many Welshmen emigrated into England and won good positions in camp, court, and mart. Everywhere the policy of the Welsh line of English Kings had proved abundantly successful." [22]
Although the modern physical boundary of Wales was and is arbitrary, although it coincides neither with race, language, nor physical configuration, yet it was clearly defined by the Tudor legislation, and the fierce, debatable border-land, the scene of so much suffering and ruin, has since that period ceased to be the fruitful cause of national enmity. ”

“ That all errors and Judgments before any of the said Justices at any time of the Great Sessions, in pleas real or mixed, shall be redressed by writ of error, to be sued out of the King's Chancery of England, returnable before the King's Justices of his Bench in England, as other writs of error be in England. And that all errors in pleas personal shall be reformed by Bills to be sued before the said President and Council of Wales, from time to time as the party grieved will sue for the same. ”

“ By this statute the Welsh system of land tenure and partition on death was finally abolished, and the 91st, 92nd, 93rd, 101st, and 128th sections are worthy of attention. The leading principle contained in these sections was that all lands in Wales were to be held subject to English tenure and not to be partible among heirs male after the custom of gavelkind, but should descend to the heirs according to the course of the common laws of the Realm of England. Lands were to be sold and mortgaged also according to English law. ”

“ Welshmen were not to carry arms without special licence; no food or armour was to be sent into Wales and an English Constable was appointed to prevent and seize such supplies; no Welshmen, unless he were a Bishop or a Temporal Lord, could possess a castle or defend his house. No Welshman could be made Justice, Chamberlain, Chancellor, Treasurer, Sheriff, Steward, Constable of Castle, Escheator, Coroner, Chief Forester, Keeper of the Records, or Lieutenant in any part of Wales or of the Council of any English Lord, except Bishops in Wales. ”

“ We, being minded to do away with undue grievances, and in the desire to confer more ample favour upon our aforesaid lieges, for that we were born in the country of Wales, also because those whom their place of birth especially associates with loyalty to their king will render themselves more inclined and more ready to obey us the larger the favours with which we shall have approached them, have thought proper of our special grace, for their greater tranquility and convenience, that what is written below shall be granted to them. ”

“ We will of our special Grace that it shall be lawful to the people of Ireland and Wales which cannot utter their wools leather woolfels and lead in Ireland and Wales to merchants strangers to come with their said Merchandises that after they be customed and cocketted in Ireland and in Wales to any of our staples in England which them shall please bringing their cockets witnessing their merchandises, which they shall discharge at the Staples in England ”

“ They laid down that no Welshmen, "wholly born in Wales" could purchase lands or tenements within England nor within the Boroughs or English towns of Wales. A Welshman could not obtain the privileges of a citizen or burgess in any city or borough or merchant town; could not become a municipal officer, and was forbidden to carry armour in any city or town on pain of imprisonment. ”

“ In 1789, the South Wales Association for the improvement of roads had been formed at Swansea, its principal object being to obtain a complete amendment of the highway road between the New Passage over the Severn at Newnham and Hubberston in Pembrokeshire, with an improvement of the road from Chepstow to Gloucester, in order to provide good communication between South Wales and London. During the reign of George the Third a number of private Acts of Parliament were successfully promoted by persons who were interested in Turnpike Trusts, giving them statutory powers to make and regulate roads. ”

“ An excellent map of Wales and the March at this period is published with volume iii. of the "Political History of England," by Professor Tout. "The Lordships of the March were not directly influenced by Edward's legislation. They continued to hold their position as franchises until the reign of Henry the Eighth, and under Edward the Third were declared by statute to be no part of the principality, but directly subject to the English Crown. Yet the removal of the pressure of a Native principality profoundly affected these districts. The policy of definition made its mark even here. ”