England and Wales Totally Explained

England and Wales are both constituent countries of the United Kingdom, that together share a single legal system: English law. Legislatively, England and Wales are treated as a single unit (see State (law)) for the conflict of laws. In the evolution of the UK, paradoxically Wales has been considered a principality rather than an incorporated country, despite Wales' moral status a separate country ethnically, culturally and politically. The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was finally formed in 1999, which now provides self-governing power for the Welsh, including powers to amend English law from the U.K. Parliament. These powers were widened by the Government of Wales Act 2006, and the Welsh Assembly Government can now propose and pass its own laws.
England and Wales were first administered as a single unit by the Romans, as the province of Britannia. Welsh law developed from this base. 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're 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 This was later repealed in 1967 (for Wales, but not for Berwick) and current laws use "England and Wales" to refer to the legal entity.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're not separate states under public international law) (see the more complete explanation in English law).

Company registration

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's 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 either 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) and an area of 151,174 km². Cardiff was proclaimed as the Welsh capital in 1955.

External results

Click here for more details on England And Wales

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://england_and_wales.totallyexplained.com">England and Wales Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.