mouthshire is somewhat anomalous. Technically it has been an English county since this Act, but it is often for administrative purposes, and sometimes by legislation, treated as part of WALES, or grouped with some of the WELSH counties. A large proportion of its inhabitants are WELSH in origin, in language, and habits, and the industrial development of the county has been closely allied to that of its adjoining shire, the county of Glamorgan. I

It was declared, by section 9 of this Act, that as the new WELSH counties were far distant from London, and because their inhabitants were "not of substance power and ability to travel out of their country to seek the administration of justice" the King was to have his Chancery and Exchequer at the Castles of Brecknock and Denbigh. The sheriffs and shire officials were ordered to render yearly accounts to a Baron of the Exchequer appointed for the purpose.

In the new shires a separate judicial system was instituted. Justice was to be administered according to the laws of England, and according also to such other customs and laws used in WALES as the King in Council should allow and think expedient, requisite, and necessary, and after such form and fashion as justice was used and ministered within the three ancient shires of NORTH WALES. The WELSH

language was abolished in all the courts. All proceedings were to be carried on in the English tongue; no person using the WELSH speech was to enjoy or hold any office within the English realm, WALES, or the King's Dominions unless he used and exercised the English speech or language."

By this measure the right of parliamentary representation was conferred upon WALES. One knight was to be chosen and elected to the sitting and future Parliaments for each of the shires of WALES. For every borough being a shire town (excepting Merioneth) one Burgess was to be likewise chosen. * See "The Welsh People," by Brynmor Jones and Rhys, p. 16.

Two knights of the shire were to be elected for the county of Monmouth, and one Burgess for the borough of Monmouth. Fees to these representatives-"such fees as other knights of the Parliament" had were to be levied and paid.

On only two occasions before the passing of this Act is there any record of WALES being represented in the English Parliament. The first was in 1322, when twenty-four members were summoned as representatives from SOUTH WALES and the same number from NORTH WALES to appear in the famous Parliament of York which enunciated the great constitutional principle that all legislative changes required the assent of the three estates of the Realm. The second occasion was in 1326-7, when forty-eight representatives appeared at Westminster in the Parliament which deposed EDWARD the Second. From the passing of this Act of 1535 to the great Reform Act of 1832 there was no further change in the number of parliamentary representatives for WALES.

Every lay and temporal Lord Marcher, by the 14th and 30th sections of this Act, was to retain all his privileges and hold his accustomed courts. This was extended to ecclesiastical Lords in the reign of PHILIP and MARY (1-2 PHILIP and MARY, c. 15).

The "laudable customs" in vogue in the three ancient shires of NORTH WALES were saved, together with the liberties of the Duchy of Lancaster within WALES. It was expressly provided that the vested interests of persons who had enjoyed fees or offices should not be disturbed during their lives. It was also enacted that HENRY'S Act of 1534 (26 HENRY 8, c. 6), which dealt with the trial of murders and felonies committed within any Lordship Marcher in WALES, and provided for the trial of those offences in the next adjoining shire of England, was not to be affected in any manner.

That this Act of 1535 was only meant to be an instalment

I Lingard's "Hist. of England," iii. p. 328; Stubbs's "Const. Hist.," ii. pp. 382-392; Rymer, ii. 4.

of legislation is shown by sections 26 and 27. Section 26 provided that after the prorogation or dissolution of that Parliament, the Lord Chancellor was to appoint a Commission to inquire into and view the shires of Carmarthen, Pembroke, Cardigan, Monmouth, Brecknock, Montgomery, Radnor, Glamorgan, and Denbigh, for the purpose of dividing them into hundreds, as in the English shires. There appears to be no record of this commission or its report. Rowland, in his Mona Antiqua, states that copies of the proceedings of these Commissioners were deposited in the office of the Chamberlain and Auditors of NORTH WALES, and that Sir William Gryffydd caused them to be translated by one Jenkin Gwyr, and that they were entitled "the extent of NORTH WALES," and section 3 of the later Act of 1542 also indicates that the Commission did its work. Section 27 provided also for a Commission to inquire and search out by all ways and means all the laws, usages, and customs used within the Dominion and Country of WALES, and to report to and advise the King in Council within a specified time, so that all such laws, if considered expedient and necessary, should be preserved and observed. No record of this Commission is to be found.

The great power of HENRY, with the subservience of his Parliament to his strong will and capacity, is exhibited by the 36th section. This enacted that his Majesty could suspend or revoke any part of this Statute at any time within the next three years, provided that the suspension or revocation was made under the Great Seal and proclaimed in every shire of WALES. His Majesty was also empowered to erect courts in WALES within five years after the end of the Parliament then sitting.

A.D. 1536.—In 1536, the King received parliamentary authority (28 HENRY 8, c. 3) to allot the townships of WALES at any time within the next three years, and to name and assign the shire towns. In the same year a statute (28 HENRY 8, c. 6) was passed continuing the Act

of 1534 (26 HENRY 8, c. 11), against WELSHMEN making affrays in the Counties of Hereford, Gloucester, and Salop, until the last day of the next Parliament. It may be here observed that, so far as lawlessness was concerned, WALES did not stand alone at this period, for HENRY also had occasion to deal with rebellion and disorder in almost every part of his realm.

A.D. 1539.-In 1539 it was stated, that owing to more pressing business, the King had not had time to proceed with the allotment of townships in WALES, so an Act (31 HENRY 8, c. 11) extended this power for a further period of three years.

A.D. 1540.-The Act "for the Trial of Treasons in WALES" (32 HENRY 8, c. 4) provided that treasons committed where the original writs in Chancery "commonly runneth not" should be tried by the oaths of twelve men of the shire before the King's appointed Commissioners. Persons accused of treason or misprision of treason within the Principality and Dominion of WALES and the Marches of the same might be tried wheresoever the King should appoint, and by Commissioners of oyer and terminer, provided always that peers of the realm were to retain their ancient privilege of trial by their peers.

In the same year, by the Act (32 HENRY 8, c. 27) for the resumption at Calais, Berwick, and WALES, reciting that "whereas divers subjects of the King had by sinister and subtle means obtained divers grants and letters patents of offices within the King's Dominion of WALES, contrary to the common wealth of the country there: and also to the great disquieting vexation and trouble of the King's loving and obedient subjects," it was ordained that, from September 1, 1540, all such grants should be made void and of no effect.

Another Act of 1540 (32 HENRY 8, c. 37) enabled executors to recover and maintain actions for arrears of rent due to the testator: but, by section 2, it was not to

apply to the manors or lordships or dominions in WALES or in the Marches whereof the inhabitants had been accustomed time out of mind to pay certain sums of money to every lord or owner of such lordship, manor, or dominion as duties on forfeiture.

A.D. 1541-2.-It was ordained by 32-33 HENRY 8, c. 3, that WELSH cloths made in NORTH WALES should be folded in pleats and cuttles as was done in other parts of the realm, so that buyers might plainly see the breadth and goodness of their purchases. This was done to prevent the complaints against the makers for having craftily rolled these cloths in such manner as to prevent the buyers ascertaining the making and measurement of the same. In the next year (by 34-35 HENRY 8, c. 11) we find another Act for the true making of WELSH frises and cottons in the towns of Caermarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, and Cardiganshire. This states that the manufacture in these towns had decayed and that "foreigners husbandmen and graziers" living in the country outside these towns were making their own wool into frises and cottons "after the most false and deceitful manner that may be." So to remedy this, it was ordered that the said frises and cottons should be of proper weight and measured as specified therein.

A.D. 1542.-The second great measure of HENRY the Eighth's reign affecting WALES became law in 1542. It established a new but independent system of law courts in WALES, a system of judicature which lasted for nearly three centuries, and in efficiency and simplicity was in advance of the technical and more complex legal system obtaining in England.

It is intituled "An Act for certain Ordinances in the King's Majesty's Dominions and Principality of WALES" (34-35 HENRY 8, c. 26), and its object was, as is stated therein, for the "good rule and order of the Dominion Principality and Country of WALES." It recites that it was passed at the humble suit and petition of the King's