COURS MAGISTRAL N°1 Introduction to British law – Union with Wales (1536): “although the English conquest of Wales took place under the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan, a formal Union did not occur until 1536, shortly after which Welsh law, which continued to be used in Wales after the conquest, was fully replaced by English law under the Laws in Wales Acts 15351542. + NEW FLAG – Oliver Cromwell (1649):seized the power in England and Wales, and established the Commonwealth, after a long period of tension between the king and Parliament. He used his army to expel his opponents from Parliament. He died in 1658, and a new king was restored. – Glorious Revolution (1688): James II had been crowned in 1685, but because he was a Catholic, prominent peers invited William of Orange to come to Englandand Wales to reign. He invaded the country and entered London, which caused James II to flee. The House of Commons stated that the king had abdicated, so that the throne was declared vacant, and offered to King James’s daughter Mary, William’s wife ; they finally decided to reign together. It is a precedent that allows the people to elect the king and to depose him if he is doesn’t govern properly.- Union with Scotland (1707): after the Glorious Revolution, Scotland briefly threatened to select a different Protestant monarch from England. On 22 July 1706, the Treaty of Union was agreed between representatives of the Scots Parliament and the Parliament of England and the following year twin Acts of Union were passed by both Parliaments to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain witheffect from May 1707. – Union with Ireland (1801): the British and Irish Parliament passed the Act of Union which merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain, to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Thus Ireland became part of an extended United Kingdom, ruled directly by the UK Parliament in London. – Queen Victoria’s death (1901): she really left her mark on theUK since she had reigned for most of the 19 th century, often regarded as the Victorian era (1837-1901). – Elizabeth II (1952): Elizabeth, George VI’s daughter, succeeded her father when he died, and became Elizabeth II. She was officially crowned the following year. THE FOUNDING TEXTS 1215 : The Magna Carta This text was written by landowners to limit the abuses of King John. It is a form ofcontract, which states that the king has rights, but also duties (maintaining peace, leading the army, protecting the people), and that it is legitimate to rebel against the king if he breaks the contract. In fact, it is not as revolutionary as it is sometimes described; for example, some of its articles only apply to “free men”, who were at the time a small minority of people! However, it lays thefoundations for the appearance of democracy in England. Not only does it expose the king’s abuse, but it also allows the barons to fight the royal power as a class and no longer as individuals, through the creation of a permanent commission of 24 barons… which can be seen as a future Parliament. 1641: The Grand Remonstrance To establish a dual parliamentary monarchy. It was a petition passed bythe English Parliament in 1641 that listed all the alleged misdeeds of Charles I and blamed all it thought responsible. It demanded parliamentary approval for the king’s ministers and the reform of the church. Charles I refused to accept it and countered by trying to arrest 5 leading members of the House of Commons, which moved to London and was placed under the protection of the Londoners. Itmarked the worsening of the relationship between king and Parliament and led to the English Civil War in 1642.

1679: Habeas Corpus Amendment Act A law that guarantees by statute the old common law rights against arbitrary and wrongful imprisonment. In a case of wrongful imprisonment, you are now allowed to demand that the jailer produce the prisoner (habeas corpus) and justify why he is keeping…