Welsh law

Welsh law, the law of Wales, was traditionally first codified by Hywel Dda ("Hywel the Good") during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales. In Welsh it is usually called Cyfraith Hywel, the Law of Hywel. The tradition states that Hywel's men adapted existing laws and some elements are probably of much greater antiquity, with points of similarity to the Brehon Laws of Ireland. The earliest manuscripts which have been preserved date from the early or mid 13th century. The law was continually revised and updated, sometimes by rulers but usually by jurists, so that the provisions of the law in a mid thirteenth century manuscript should not be considered as evidence of what the law was in the mid 10th century.

The laws include "The laws of the court", the laws laying down the obligations and entitlements of the king and the officers of his court and "The laws of the country" dealing with every other topic. In some versions of the laws some of the material in the laws of the country are split off into "The justices' test book" dealing with homicide, theft and the values of wild and tame animals and other items. Within each of these sections there are tracts of varying length dealing with different subjects, for example the law of women and the law of contracts. Civil law differed from most other codes of law in the rule that on a landowner's death his land was to be shared equally between his sons, legitimate and illegitimate. This caused conflict with the church, for under Canon law illegitimate children could not inherit.

Once a case came to court, the method used to come to a decision was usually by compurgation. Under this system the person accused or the parties to a dispute would give their version under oath, following which they had to find a number of others who would take an oath that the principal's oath could be trusted. The number of compurgators required depended on the nature of the case. The judge or judges would then come to a decision. Capital punishment was only prescribed for a small number of crimes. Homicide was usually dealt with by the payment of compensation to the victim's family, while theft could be punished by death only if it was theft by stealth and the thief was caught with the goods in hand; the value of the goods stolen also had to exceed four pence. Most other offences were punished by a fine.

Welsh law was in force in Wales until the death of Llywelyn the Last in 1282 and the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284 which replaced 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.