'England and Wales' are both
constituent countries of the
United Kingdom, and together share a single
legal system:
English law.
England and
Wales are treated as a single unit (see
State (law)) for the
conflict of laws. In the evolution of the UK, Wales has been considered a
principality rather than an incorporated country, as is the case with Scotland and Ireland.
England and Wales were first administered as a single unit by the
Romans, as the
province of ''
Britannia''.
Welsh law developed from this base and from Irish and other influences. It was first codified by
Hywel Dda ("Hywel the Good") during the period between 942 and 950 when he was king of most of Wales. The
Statute of Rhuddlan in
1284 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. Modern England and Wales share the same legal system as they are the successor to the former
Kingdom of England. The continuation of
Scots law was explicitly guaranteed by the
Acts of Union 1707, which therefore, by default, guaranteed the continuation of the legal system of the Kingdom of England.
Law
England and Wales are treated as a single unit, for most purposes, because the two form the constitutional successor to the former
Kingdom of England. The continuance of
Scots law was guaranteed under the
Acts of Union 1707, and as a consequence English law (and after
1801 Irish law) also continued to be separate. Exceptions include the
Welsh language acts of
1967 and
1993 and also
Government of Wales Act 1998, which apply in Wales but not in England.
Wales was brought under a
common monarch with England through conquest with the
Statute of Rhuddlan in
1284 and
annexed to England for legal purposes by the
Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. However, references in legislation for 'England' were still taken as excluding Wales. The
Wales and Berwick Act 1746 meant that in all future laws, 'England' would by default include Wales (and
Berwick-upon-Tweed). This was later
repealed in 1967 (for Wales, but not for Berwick) and current laws use "England and Wales" to refer to the legal entity.
The other countries of the
United Kingdom, namely
Scotland and
Northern Ireland, as well as
Crown dependencies (such as the
Isle of Man,
Jersey and
Guernsey, each with its own legal system), are also separate units for the conflict of laws (although they are not separate
states under
public international law) (see the more complete explanation in
English law).
Company registration
Main articles: Companies House
For the purposes of the legal registration of companies, England and Wales are treated as a single entity (companies are "Registered in England and Wales") with a unified register, separate from those of Scotland or Northern Ireland. However it is possible to register a company in Wales with a Welsh language name.
Other bodies
Outside of the legal system the position is mixed. Some organisations combine as "England and Wales", others separate.
In sports,
cricket has a
combined international team administered by the
England and Wales Cricket Board, while
football,
rugby union and other sports have separate national representative teams for each country.
Some religious denominations organise on the basis of England and Wales, most notably the
Roman Catholic Church, but also small denominations, eg. the
Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Prior to the splitting-off of the
Church in Wales in 1920 the
Church of England operated throughout England and Wales.
The
Electoral Commission maintains a register of political parties, organised according to where the party operates. As of March 2007 the Commission listed 8 parties registered as operating in England and Wales (as opposed to 197 operating in England only, and 11 operating in Wales only), the largest of which is the
Green Party of England and Wales.
Some professional bodies represent England and Wales, for example the
Institute of Chartered Accountants, the
National Farmers' Union and the
Police Federation.
Other examples include the
Charity Commission, the
Environment Agency, the
General Register Office,
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary,
Her Majesty's Land Registry,
Her Majesty's Prison Service,
Mountain Rescue England and Wales,
St. John Ambulance, the
Worshipful Company of Chartered Accountants livery company, and the
Youth Hostels Association.
England and Wales has its own
Order of Precedence, distinct from those of Northern Ireland or Scotland, or other
Commonwealth Realms.
The
national parks of England and Wales have a distinctive legislative framework and history.
Geography
If considered as a subdivision of the United Kingdom, England and Wales would have a population of 53,390,300 (89% of the UK total)
[1] and an area of 151,174 km².
Cardiff was proclaimed as the Welsh capital in
1955[2].
References
1. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?ID=6 Official mid-2005 population estimate; England=50,431,700 Wales=2,958,600 UK=60,209,500
2. Cardiff as Capital of Wales: Formal Recognition by Government. The Times. 21 December 1955.
See also
★
Courts of England and Wales
★
Judiciary of England and Wales
★ ''
English and Welsh''
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