For over two centuries, the word England in British law quietly included Wales
Until 1746 nobody could be sure whether a law mentioning England also covered Wales. So Parliament passed an act declaring that every past and future reference to England would, by default, include Wales and the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed. That legal shorthand captures how the two countries became one jurisdiction.
England and Wales form one of the United Kingdom's three legal systems, alongside Scotland and Northern Ireland, and share English law. Under Roman rule the area south of Hadrian's Wall was governed as a single unit. After the Romans left, the two went separate ways: Hywel Dda, king of most of Wales from 942 to 950, first codified Welsh law, while in England Alfred the Great issued his legal code around 893.
Welsh law survived in civil cases until the Tudors, themselves a Welsh dynasty, annexed Wales in the 16th century. The Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542 folded all Welsh territories into the legal system of the Kingdom of England. Scotland stayed apart because the 1706 Treaty of Union guaranteed Scots law, and Irish law likewise remained separate after 1801. The Berwick clause of 1746 was eventually repealed.
Self-government returned gradually. The Welsh assembly, now the Senedd, was created in 1999, gained law-making powers under a 2006 act, and after a referendum on 3 March 2011 could legislate on devolved matters without consulting Westminster. Wales had lacked its own legislative power for almost 500 years. Some Welsh academics and politicians have called for a separate Welsh criminal justice system. Companies still have to declare whether their registered office sits in England and Wales, in Wales, in Scotland or in Northern Ireland, which fixes the law that governs them.
Beyond the courts, the pairing is patchy. Cricket fields a single team called England, run by the England and Wales Cricket Board, with Glamorgan playing in the county system, while football and rugby keep the nations apart. The Roman Catholic Church organises across both, the Church in Wales split from the Church of England in 1920, and the Green Party of England and Wales contests only English and Welsh seats.
Source: England and Wales
