Y Cymmrodor. v. XIV. 1901.

24 English Laiü in Wales and the Marches.
The Act for the Ordinances for Wales (34 and 35 Hen.
VIII, cap. 26) 1, divided Wales into twelve shires, i.e. the
four recently created and the eight "of long and ancient
tiine"; 2, abolished the Welsh tenure of land ; 3, appointed
yearly sheriffs (they had previously been appointed for
life), who held courts as in England and who by 1 Edward
VI, cap. 10, were directed to have deputies in the Courts
of King's Bench and Common Pleas at Westminster,
coroners, escheators (to hold incjuisitions on the death of
crown tenants and to take charge of forfeited lands and
goods for the crown), and other shire officers and a limited
number of justices of the peace; 4, confirmed the hundreds
made by royal commission ; 5, continued the Court of the
Marches ; and 6, established a new court of itinerant
justices.
This was "the King's Great Sessions in Wales", of
which the judges were the Chief Justice of Chester and
three other justices, each of whom had three shires in his
circuit. They had the powers of the judges of the King's
Bench and Common Pleas and of assize, had a Chancery
jurisdiction and held sessions in each shire twice in the
year, each of which was to last six days. There are
various regulations for their " original seals" for original
writs, "judicial seals " for judicial process, and for the
ofticers and proceedings of the Courts. A writ of error
lay from the Great Sessions in pleas real and mixed to
the King's Bench, and in personal pleas to the Court of
the Marches, and after the abolition of that Court, also to
the King's Bench. (A custos rotulorum and justices of the
peace were also appointed as in England for each shire,
the number of the latter, beyond those who were ex officio,
was limited to eight, and this was not altered until after
the Eevolution. The Act of 27 Henry VIII, cap. 5, had
already appointed justices of the peace for the County