Cyfraith Hywel
Cyfraith Hywel, also known as Welsh law, was the system of law practised in medieval Wales before its final conquest by England. Subsequently, the Welsh law's criminal codes were superseded by the Statute of Rhuddlan in AD 1284 and its civil codes by Henry VIII's series of Laws in Wales Acts between 1535 and 1542.
Welsh law was a form of Celtic law with many similarities to the Brehon law of Ireland and particularly the customs and terminology of the Britons of Strathclyde. It was passed down orally by jurists and bards and, according to tradition, only first codified during the reign of Hywel Dda in the mid-10th century. The earliest surviving manuscripts, however, are in Latin, date from the early 13th century, and show marked regional differences. The law is only known to have been revised by a few rulers but was obviously updated by jurists in response to changing jurisdictions and circumstances, so that the surviving manuscripts cannot be considered an accurate portrayal of Hywel's first code.
Notable features of Welsh law include the collective responsibility of kindreds for their members; the gavelkind inheritance of land among all and only male descendants; a status-based system of blood money ; slavery and serfdom; the inability of foreigners to naturalise earlier than the fourth generation; and very lax treatment of divorce and legitimacy that scandalised the non-native clergy.
Overview
The laws include the "laws of the court", the laws laying down the obligations and entitlements of the king and the officers of his court and the "laws of the country" dealing with every other topic. In some versions of the laws some of the material in the laws of the country are split off into the "justices' test book" dealing with homicide, theft and the values of wild and tame animals and other items. Within each of these sections there are tracts of varying length dealing with different subjects, for example the law of women and the law of contracts. Civil law differed from most other codes of law in the rule that on a landowner's death his land was to be shared equally between his sons, legitimate and illegitimate. This caused conflict with the church, as under canon law illegitimate children could not inherit.Once a case came to court, the method used to come to a decision was usually by compurgation. Under this system the person accused or the parties to a dispute would give their version under oath, following which they had to find a number of others who would take an oath that the principal's oath could be trusted. The number of compurgators required depended on the nature of the case. The judge or judges would then come to a decision. Capital punishment was only prescribed for a small number of crimes. Homicide was usually dealt with by the payment of compensation to the victim's family, while theft could be punished by death only if it was theft by stealth and the thief was caught with the goods in hand; the value of the goods stolen also had to exceed four pence. Most other offences were punished by a fine.
Origins
Most of the surviving manuscripts of Welsh law start with a preamble explaining how the laws were codified by Hywel. The introduction to the Book of Blegywryd is a typical example:As each of the manuscripts dates from centuries later than Hywel's time, this statement cannot be used to date the event described above. Professor Huw Pryce has demonstrated that some of the prologues were developed in response to attacks on Welsh law by Church men and Nobles who wished to gain rights more akin to those enjoyed by Ecclesiastics and the aristocracy in England. In discussing Hywel's association with the law, K. L. Maund suggests:
On the other hand, the Iorwerth versions, produced in Gwynedd, have exactly the same attribution of the law to Hywel and the council at Whitland as do the southern versions.
The best that may be said of Hywel's association with the law is that a folk memory recalled a revision and rejuvenation of the law during his reign. Other kings are said to have introduced later modifications to the laws, for example Bleddyn ap Cynfyn, king of Gwynedd and Powys in the mid 11th century.
Some of the legal material, such as the tract on the Seven Bishop Houses of Dyfed, may be dated to a very early period of law. Other material bears comparison with Early Irish Law.
Manuscripts
Although there are a substantial number of manuscripts containing the law texts, there are no existing manuscripts of law texts dating back to the time of Hywel and Welsh law was continually being revised and updated. There has been some debate among scholars as to whether the laws were originally written in Welsh or Latin. The Surexit memorandum in the Lichfield Gospels is a record of the outcome of legal proceedings dating from the 9th century and written in Welsh, and though it is not a law manual it does indicate the use of Welsh legal terms at that time. The earliest manuscripts known are Peniarth 28, written in Latin but now generally thought to be a translation of a Welsh original, and Peniarth 29, known as the Black Book of Chirk, written in Welsh. These are thought to date from the early or mid 13th century. There are a large number of law manuscripts, written mainly in Welsh but some in Latin, written between this period and the 16th century. Later manuscripts have been shown to reflect legal developments particularly in the Southern Welsh lordships. Apart from the full compilations there are shorter versions thought to have been working copies used by judges. However they are all usually considered to fall into three Redactions, known as the Cyfnerth Redaction, the Blegywryd Redaction and the Iorwerth Redaction.- The Cyfnerth Redaction, thought to be linked to the area between the River Wye and the River Severn, possibly Maeliennydd, includes some of the least developed law. It is thought to have been compiled in the late 12th century when this area came under the rule of the Lord Rhys of Deheubarth.
- The Blegywryd Redaction is associated with Deheubarth and shows signs of the influence of the church.
- The Iorwerth Redaction is thought to represent the law as modified in Gwynedd during the reign of Llywelyn the Great in the first part of the 13th century by the jurist Iorwerth ap Madog. This is considered to be the most developed version of the law, though it does contain some archaic passages. The version in Llyfr Colan is thought to be a revision of Iorwerth, though also from the 13th century, and there is also the Llyfr y Damweiniau, a collection of case-law linked to Colan. No manuscript has survived from Powys, though the Iorwerth Redaction does indicate where usage in Powys differs from usage in Gwynedd.
Laws of the court
It introduces a number of legal terms. Sarhad could mean an insult or injury or the payment that was due to a person in the event of an insult or injury, and this varied according to the status of the person concerned, for example the queen or the edling's sarhad was one third that of the king. Galanas was a form of weregild and represented the value of a person's life in the event of a homicide and was set at three times the sarhad, though the sarhad was also payable by the killer. Dirwy was a fine payable for crimes and camlwrw a smaller fine for less serious offences, while ebediw was a death duty payable to the deceased's lord. Sarhad and dirwy are still Welsh words meaning 'insult' and 'fine' respectively,
The origins of the various redactions are reflected in the relative position of the rulers of the Welsh kingdoms. The Iorwerth Redaction manuscripts proclaim the superiority of the king of Aberffraw, chief seat of the kingdom of Gwynedd, over the others, while the manuscripts from Deheubarth claim at least equality for the king of Dinefwr, chief seat of the southern kingdom.
While Welsh law lays more emphasis on the powers of the king than the Brehon Law of Ireland, this is still restricted compared to many other codes. As Moore comments:
Laws of the country
Classes
For the purposes of the laws, Welsh society was divided into five classes: the rulers, including the king over his kingdom and the lords over their fiefs; the free Welsh, including both the pedigreed aristocracy and the yeomen together; the Welsh serfs ; foreigners resident in Wales ; and the slaves. The privileges, penalties, and obligations due by law varied with the social status of the person concerned.Naturalization
At the time of Hywel's laws, Cymry the modern Welsh for all of the Welsh people apparently only applied to the free classes and not to serfs or slaves. However, none of them counted as a "foreigner" and, even if they moved from one Welsh "kingdom" to another, they did not suffer that status but were considered fully native.Those from outside Wales were considered between serfs and slaves, forbidden to offer testimony, and obliged to pledge themselves to a native Welshman who would be responsible for them. This status could only be removed after three generations in the north and possibly as many as nine elsewhere, after which the foreigner's descendants were considered to be native serfs.