And about the 20th Year of Hen. 3. several Writs were sent into Ireland, especially directing several Statutes which had been made in England to be put in Use, and to be observed in Ireland; as the Statute of Merton in the Case of Bastardy, &c.
But yet it seems by the frequent Grants that were made afterwards to particular Native Irish Men, quod legibus utantur Anglicanis, That the Native Irish had not the full Privilege of the English Laws, in Relation at least to the Liberties of English Men, till about the Third of Edw. 3. Vide Rot. Claus. 2E. 3. Memb. 17.
As the Common Law of England was thus by King John and Hen.
3. introduced into Ireland, so in the Tenth of Hen. 7. all the precedent Statutes of England were there settled by the Parliament of Ireland. 'Tis true, many ancient Irish Customs continued in Ireland, and do continue there even unto this Day;but such as are contrary to the Laws of England are disallow'd Vide Davis's Reports, the Case of Tanistry.
As touching Wales, That was not always the Feudal Territory of the Kingdom of England; but having been long governed by a Prince of their own, there were very many Laws and Customs used in Wales, utterly strange to the Laws of England, the Principal whereof they attribute to their King Howell Dha.
After King Edw. I had subdued Wales, and brought it immediately under his Dominion; He first made a strict Inquisition touching the Welsh Laws within their several Commotes and Seigniores, which Inquisitions are yet of Record: After which, in the 12th of Edw. I. the Statute of Rutland was made, whereby the Administration of Justice in Wales was settled in a Method very near to the Rule of the Law of England. The Preamble of the said Statute is notable, viz.
Edvardus Dei gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae & Dux Acquitaniae omnibus Fidelibas suis de Terra sua de Snodon & de aliis terris suis in Wallia Salutem in Domino. Divina Providentia quae in sua Dispositione non fallitur, inter alia suae Dispensationis Munera, quibus nos & Regnum nostrum Angliae decorari dignata est, Terram Walliae cum incolis suis prius nobis juri Feodali subjectam, tam sui gratia in proprietatis nostrae Dominium, obstaculis quibuscunque cessantibus, totaliter & cum integritate convertit, & Coroniae Regni praedicti tantum partem corporis ejusdem annexuit & univit. Nos, &c.
According to the Method in that Statute prescribed, has the Method of Justice been hitherto administred in Wales, with such Alterations and additions therein as have been made by the several subsequent Statutes of 27 and 34 H. 8. &c.
Touching the Isle of Man. This was sometimes Parcel of the Kingdom of Norway, and governed by Particular Laws and Customs of their own, tho' many of them hold Proportion, or bear some Analogy, to the Laws of England, and probably were at first and originally derived from hence; seeing the Kingdom of Norway as well as the Isle of Man have anciently been in Subjection to the Crown of England. Vide Legis Willi. Primi, in Lambard's Saxon Laws.
Berwick was sometimes Parcel of Scotland, but was won by Conquest by King Edw. I, and after that lost by King Edw. 2, and afterwards regained by Edw. 3. It was governed by the Laws of Scotland, and their own particular Customs, and not according to the Rules of the Common Law of England, further than as by Custom it is there admitted, as in Liber Parliamenti, 21 E. I. in the Case of Moyne and Bartlemew, Pro Dote in Berwick; yet now by Charter, they send Burgesses to the Parliament of England.
Touching the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, and Alderney;They were anciently a Part of the Dutchy of Normandy, and in that Right, the Kings of England held them till the Time of King John;but although King John, as is before shewn, was unjustly deprived of that Dutchy, yet he kept the Islands; and when after that, they were by Force taken from him, he by the like Force regained them, and they have ever since continued in the Possession of the Crown of England.
As to their Laws, they are not governed by the Laws of England, but by the Laws and Customs of Normandy. But not as they are at this Day; for since the actual Division and Separation of those Islands from that Dutchy, there have been several New Edicts and Laws made by the Kings of France which have much altered the old Law of Normandy, which Edicts and Laws bind not in those Islands, they having been ever since King John's Time at least under the actual Allegiance of England.
