Statute of Rhuddlan

The Statute of Rhuddlan, also known as the Statutes of Wales or the Statute of Wales, was a royal ordinance by Edward I of England that gave the constitutional basis for the government of the Principality of Wales from 1284 until 1536. It followed Edward I's conquest of Wales and the killing of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last Welsh prince to rule the whole principality, in 1282, and it introduced English common law to Wales while permitting the continuance of some Welsh legal practices within the Principality. The statute also introduced the English shire system to the Principality of Wales, which before the statute had been ruled by Welsh law under its native Princes of Wales.