apply to the manors or lordships or dominions in Wales or in the Marches whereof the inhabitants had been accustomed time out of mind to pay certain sums of money to every lord or owner of such lordship, manor, or dominion as duties on forfeiture.
A.D. 1541-2.—It was ordained by 32-33 Henry 8, c. 3, that Welsh cloths made in North Wales should be folded in pleats and cuttles as was done in other parts of the realm, so that buyers might plainly see the breadth and goodness of their purchases. This was done to prevent the complaints against the makers for having craftily rolled these cloths in such manner as to prevent the buyers ascertaining the making and measurement of the same. In the next year (by 34-35 Henry 8, c. 11) we find another Act for the true making of Welsh frises and cottons in the towns of Caermarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, and Cardiganshire. This states that the manufacture in these towns had decayed and that "foreigners husbandmen and graziers" living in the country outside these towns were making their own wool into frises and cottons "after the most false and deceitful manner that may be." So to remedy this, it was ordered that the said frises and cottons should be of proper weight and measured as specified therein.
A.D. 1542.—The second great measure of Henry the Eighth's reign affecting Wales became law in 1542. It established a new but independent system of law courts in Wales, a system of judicature which lasted for nearly three centuries, and in efficiency and simplicity was in advance of the technical and more complex legal system obtaining in England.
It is intituled "An Act for certain Ordinances in the King's Majesty's Dominions and Principality of Wales" (34-35 Henry 8, c. 26), and its object was, as is stated therein, for the "good rule and order of the Dominion Principality and Country of Wales." It recites that it was passed at the humble suit and petition of the King's
