The part of the Act of 1542 which was entirely new was that which created the King's Court of Great Sessions. English law had been introduced into Wales; but its administration was to be distinct and separate. The Great Sessions possessed all the powers of the King's Bench and Common Pleas, and its practice was the same as that in use at Westminster. It was also endowed with complete criminal jurisdiction. Wales was divided into four Circuits--Chester, which included Denbigh, Flint, and Montgomery; North Wales, which included Carnarvon, Anglesey, and Merioneth; Brecknock, which included the county of that name, together with Radnor and Glamorgan; and Carmarthen, which also included Cardigan and Pembroke. Each of these Circuits had, at first, one judge; but {140} some time later an extra one was added. These judges were, on the whole, competent men; and a large number of them afterwards attained to the highest legal positions in England. Among them we find such famous legal luminaries as Bradshaw, Jeffreys, Willes, Lyndhurst, Kenyon, Mansfield, Wright, Herbert, Dallas, Best, Jackyll, and Verney. The strongest objection which could be made to them was that few of their number could speak Welsh, and that at a time when little else was spoken at all in Wales. All members of the English Bar were free to practise in Wales; but counsel were mainly drawn from the Oxford and the Northern Circuits. The Court sat twice every year--spring and autumn--in each county town, and the duration of the session was fixed at six days. After the abolition, in 1688, of the Council, Chancery work began to be taken to London; and from the beginning of the eighteenth century we find the English courts endeavouring, mainly by the use of _certiorari_, to attract thither other cases as well. Frequent attacks were launched in Parliament against the administration of justice in Wales; and several sound theoretical arguments were advanced against the Great Sessions. But in spite of a commission of {141} enquiry, which sat in 1817, we have no real evidence to justify our holding the system to have been a failure. Nevertheless the Great Sessions were abolished in 1830, after attempts to amend them had been made in 1769, in 1793, and in 1824. It is worthy of note that their abolition was opposed by all the Welsh Members of Parliament save one, by almost all the judges, and by practically all counsel who practised in the courts. We have already seen that the Act set up a system of local government. This comprised the various officers we have named; and furthermore County Courts with jurisdiction over small amounts, and Vestries in which the parishioners learnt the art of self-government.