Welsh Journals

'WALES FORTHE WELSH'?: THE WELSH COUNTY COURT JUDGESHIPS, c. 1868-1900 THE COUNTY COURT, y cwrt bach as it was affectionately known in Welsh, was established by the Act for the More Easy Recovery of Small Debts and Demands in England (1846).1 This new court was warmly welcomed in Wales, where, since the abolition of the court of Great Sessions in 1830, the recovery of small debts had been made more difficult and expensive.2 The late nineteenth century witnessed a number of attempts to remove county court judges not conversant with the Welsh language; two judges were particular targets-Homersham Cox and Cecil Beresford, both of whom served the mid-Wales circuit. The battle to oust them was fought on a number of fronts: splenetic letters were sent to the press, protests were made in court rooms, and angry words were exchanged at public meetings. But it is perhaps the parliamentary debates which make these episodes so significant. Once the native tongue had champions in Westminster, the state could no longer ignore the dissatisfaction felt over the treatment of the Welsh language in the legal system. Never before had matters affecting the language been so hotly debated. Although the county court judgeship was by no means the only linguistic concern pursued by Welsh MPs during the 'Liberal ascendancy', it was without doubt one of the issues which attracted most interest in this respect. The protracted passage of the Bill to set up the county courts through Parliament was closely observed by the Welsh press and, from its introduction in the early 1840s, the demand was regularly heard that Welsh-speaking judges be appointed. The campaign for Welsh-speaking county court judges was spearheaded by the London-Welsh societies, 1 9 & 10, Vict., c. 95. 2 David Brynmor Jones and John Rhys, The Welsh People (London, 1906), PP. 391-2.