Welsh Journals

GLIMPSES OF CARDIGANSHIRE IN SESSIONS RECORDS* BETWEEN the time Henry VIII ascended the throne in 1509 and his death in 1547, and mainly as a result of the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542, many fundamental changes had been introduced into the administrative and judicial life of Wales. This was the reign which witnessed, amongst other changes, the division of Wales into the shires or counties which we know today, and the introduction into these shires of the office of Justice of the Peace. These officials had played an important part in the lite of the English shires long before the reign of Henry, but it was now that they were appointed for the first time in Wales.1 A certain number were nominated for each county, and, acting mainly in their three-monthly court or Quarter Sessions, they were to wield the same administrative and judicial powers as their English counterparts. During the succeeding centuries, their exact powers varied from time to time with varying legislation, but at all times a considerable part of the burden of preserving law and order and of conducting the affairs of the shire rested upon their shoulders. Meeting four times a year in Quarter Sessions, and oftener in Petty and Special Sessions, they acted as judges in certain categories of crime, and also saw to it that national legislation was complied with at local level. Today, the J. P., though shorn of most of his administrative duties, is still a major figure in a judicial sense, at Quarter and Petty Sessions. The reign of Henry VIII also witnessed the reorganisation of the administration of higher justice in Wales. Twelve of the counties into which the country was now divided were organised into four groups of three counties each. For reasons which need not detain us here, Monmouthshire was excluded from this arrangement. To each of these groups or judicial circuits a judge was allocated, and twice a year this judge would hold the king's Court of Great Sessions in each one of the counties within his group or circuit.2 Later in the sixteenth century, probably as a result of pressure of work, a second judge was allocated to each group. Thus Cardiganshire found itself forming a part of a judicial group or circuit with the counties of Carmarthen and Pembroke. This system of independent Welsh courts, the Courts of Great Sessions, survived without any fundamental changes until it was abolished in 1830. When I had the privilege of addressing the Society last December, I stated quite explicitly that it was not my intention to analyse any of the *Based on an address delivered to the Society at Aberystwyth, 10 December 1966.