Statute of Rhuddlan

The statute followed the Conquest of Wales by Edward I and the killing of the last Welsh prince to rule the whole Principality, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in 1282.

The statute introduced English common law to Wales, but also permitted the continuance of Welsh legal practices within the Principality.

[5] He restored the principality of Powys Wenwynwyn to Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn who had suffered at the hands of Llewelyn, and he and his successor Owen de la Pole held it as a marcher lordship.

Rhys ap Maredudd of Dryslwyn would have been in a similar position in Cantref Mawr, having adhered to the king during Llewelyn's rebellion, but he forfeited his lands by rebelling in 1287.

The changes of the period made little difference in the substantial swathe of land from Pembrokeshire through South Wales to the Welsh Borders which was already in the hands of the marcher lords.

[15] The Statute divided the principality into the counties of Anglesey, Merionethshire, Caernarfonshire, and Flintshire, which were created out of the remnants of the Kingdom of Gwynedd in North Wales.

The English writs and forms of action, such as novel disseisin, debt and dower, operated, but with oversight from Caernarfon, rather than the distant Westminster.

Thomas Pennant remarks in 1778, "A piece of antient building called the Parlement is still to be seen in Rhuddlan: probably where the king sat in council.

[23] Today the building still partially stands in Parliament Street, with a late 13th-century doorway and a 14th-century cusped ogee door head.