Y Cymmrodor. v. XIV. 1901.

8 Enplish Law in Wales and the Marches.
"S
purgation with a greater or less number of purgators,
according to the gravity of the matter in hand." In
criminal matters the law of England was to prevail. The
object of Edward was to adapt the then form of English
local government to the Principality, and it is to be
noticed that the administration soon fell for the most part
into the hands of Welshmen. From the Record oj
Carnarvon, which has been called the Domesday of Wales,
and which contains the extents of Carnaiwonand Anglesey
in the reign of Edward III, and of part of Merioneth
in that of Henry V, it is evident that many Welsh
customs had survived the Statute ;
but the work of assimi-
lation went on. There were no mesne lords among the
Welsh, the chieftains' rights were transferred after the
conquest to the Prmce of Wales. Manors grew up, and
the maenol, a division of a commote, became in Law
Latin the manerium and in English the manor, the free
tribesmen the manorial freeholders, and the tceogs or
villani the copyholders ; the food rents were commuted
in time for each class into the tunc pound of silver, which
was paid to the Prince of Wales and is still paid in the
form of crown rents. The quasi-feudal services of the
free Welshmen were continued, but in many cases Welsh
landowners had adopted the rule of primogeniture instead
of the entail of family land, which, however, like the joint
holdings of the tceogs, lingered on in many places. The
tenure by the gwely, or family group (associated originally
for jurisdiction and tribute), of land partible among heirs
male, was adapted to the tenure by knights' service, and
the Ordinances for
altliough it was formally abolished by
Wales, both gavelkind and borough-English are still to be
found in some Welsh manors. The revenue of the Princi-
pality in the time of the Black Prince was over £4,000
a year, but this had greatly decreased in Tudor tiines.