Jump to content

England and Wales

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Map ofEnglandandWales,two of the fourconstituent countriesof theUnited Kingdom

England and Wales(Welsh:Cymru a Lloegr) is one of thethree legal jurisdictionsof theUnited Kingdom.It covers the constituent countriesEnglandandWalesand was formed by theLaws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542.The substantive law of the jurisdiction isEnglish law.

ThedevolvedSenedd(Welsh Parliament;Welsh:Senedd Cymru) – previously named the National Assembly for Wales – was created in 1999 under theGovernment of Wales Act 1998and provides a degree ofself-governmentin Wales. The powers of the legislature were expanded by theGovernment of Wales Act 2006,which allows it to passits own laws,and the Act also formally separated theWelsh Governmentfrom the Senedd. There is noequivalent body for England,which is directly governed by the parliament andgovernment of the United Kingdom.

History of jurisdiction[edit]

The Roman province ofBritanniain 410

During theRoman occupation of Britain,the area of present-day England and Wales was administered as a single unit, except for the land to the north ofHadrian's Wall– though the Roman-occupied area varied in extent, and for a time extended to theAntonine/Severan Wall.At that time, most of the native inhabitants ofRoman BritainspokeBrythonic languages,and were all regarded asBritons,divided into numerous tribes. After the conquest, the Romans administered this region as a single unit, theprovinceofBritain.

Long after the departure of the Romans, the Britons in what became Wales developed theirown system of law,first codified byHywel Dda(Hywel the Good; reigned 942–950) when he was king of most of present-day Wales; in EnglandAnglo-Saxon lawwas initially codified byAlfred the Greatin hisLegal Code,c. 893.However, after theNorman invasion of Walesin the 11th century,English lawcame to apply in the parts of Wales conquered by theNormans(theWelsh Marches). In 1283, the English, led byEdward I,with the biggest army brought together in England since the 11th century,conquered the remainder of Wales,then organised as thePrincipality of Wales.This was then united with the English crown by theStatute of Rhuddlanof 1284. This aimed to replace Welsh criminal law with English law.

Welsh law continued to be used for civil cases until the annexation of Wales to England in the 16th century by the WelshHouse of Tudor.TheLaws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542then consolidated the administration of all the Welsh territories and incorporated them fully into the legal system of the Kingdom of England.[1]This was in part to update outdated Welsh laws, but also to control Wales alongside England; through these acts, the Welsh could be seen as equals to the English,[2]which was reflected on bothHenry VIIIandElizabeth I's coat of arms where the dragon represented Wales and the lion represented England,[3][full citation needed]but as soon as the Tudor dynasty ended with the death ofElizabeth I,thered dragon of Waleswas dropped and replaced with theunicornof Scotland with the succession ofKing James Iwho demoted Wales' status on the coat of arms and on the first adaptation of theFlag of Great Britain.[4]

Prior to 1746, it was not clear whether a reference to "England" in legislation included Wales, and so in 1746, Parliament passed theWales and Berwick Act 1746.This specified that in all prior and future laws, references to "England" would by default include Wales (andBerwick-upon-Tweed). The Wales and Berwick Act was repealed by theWelsh Language Act 1967,although the statutory definition of "England" created by that Act still applies for laws passed before 1967. In new legislation since then, what was referred to as "England" is now "England and Wales", while subsequent references to "England" and "Wales" refer to those political divisions.

Wales jurisdiction[edit]

Main article:Proposed Wales criminal justice system

There have been multiple calls from both Welsh academics and politicians for aWales criminal justice system.[5][6][7]

Law[edit]

TheRoyal Courts of Justiceof England and Wales

England and Wales are treated as a single unit for some purposes, because the two form the constitutional successor to the former Kingdom of England. The continuance ofScots lawwas guaranteed under the 1706Treaty of Unionthat led to theActs of Union 1707,and as a consequence English law—and after1801,Irish law—continued to be separate. Following the two Acts of Union, Parliament can restrict the effect of its laws to part of the realm, and generally the effect of laws, where restricted, was originally applied to one or more of the former kingdoms.[clarification needed]Thus, most laws applicable to England also applied to Wales. However, Parliament now passes laws applicable to Wales and not to England (and vice versa), a practice which was rare before the middle of the 20th century. Examples are theWelsh LanguageActs1967and1993and theGovernment of Wales Act 1998.Measures andActs of the Seneddapply in Wales, but not in England.

Following the Government of Wales Act, effective since May 2007, theSeneddcan legislate on matters devolved to it. Following areferendum on 3 March 2011,the Senedd gained direct law-making powers, without the need to consult Westminster. This was the first time in almost 500 years that Wales had its own powers to legislate. Each piece ofWelsh legislationis known as anAct of Senedd Cymru.

Company registration[edit]

Main article:Companies House

For acompanyto beincorporatedin the United Kingdom, its application for registration withCompanies Housemust state "whether the company's registered office is to be situated in England and Wales (or in Wales), in Scotland or in Northern Ireland",[8]which will determine the law applicable to that business entity. A registered office must be specified as "in Wales" if the company wishes to use a name endingcyfyngedigorcyf,rather thanLimitedorLtd.or to avail itself of certain other privileges relating to the official use of the Welsh language.

Other bodies[edit]

Outside the legal system, the position is mixed. Some organisations combine as "England and Wales", others are separate.

Order of precedence[edit]

Theorder of precedence in England and Walesis distinct from those ofNorthern IrelandandScotland,and fromCommonwealth realms.

National parks[edit]

Thenational parksofEnglandandWaleshave a distinctive legislative framework and history.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Cannon, John(2009).A Dictionary of British History.Oxford University Press.p. 661.ISBN978-0-19-955037-1.Retrieved15 October2010.
  2. ^Owen, Gwilym, et al. "The Acts of Union 1536–43—Not Quite the End of the Road for Welsh Law?"Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium,vol. 37, Department of Celtic Languages & Literatures,Harvard University,2017, pp. 217–250,JSTOR45048897.
  3. ^Fox-Davies (1909),A complete guide to heraldry
  4. ^Duffy, Jonathan (10 April 2006)."Union recognition".BBC News.Archivedfrom the original on 30 November 2020.See alsoGraphic(archive of Graphic)
  5. ^"Written Statement: Update on the development of the justice system and the legal sector in Wales (30 September 2021)".GOV.WALES.30 September 2021.Retrieved29 November2022.
  6. ^"Plaid Cymru call for devolution of justice to Wales - 'we can't be treated as an appendage to England'".Nation.Cymru.29 November 2022.Retrieved29 November2022.
  7. ^"Devolution a 'necessary step' towards a better Welsh criminal justice system, academics argue".Cardiff University.Retrieved22 February2023.
  8. ^Subsection 9(2) of the Companies Act 2006

Further reading[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=England_and_Wales&oldid=1205620409"