THE WALES AND CHESTER CIRCUIT
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For the practice of law, England and Wales are now split into six distinct geographical regions known as “circuits”: Wales and Chester, Western, Midlands, Northern, North-East and South-East.
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Until the time of King Henry VIII, the ancient laws and customs of Wales were still in use, but in decline. Between 1535 and 1543, Henry enacted statutes that brought about the political annexation of Wales, and the abolition of its laws and customs in favour of the Common Law of England.
Henry’s laws also removed the Welsh language as an official language of the courts; something that was not rectified until the Welsh Courts Act 1942 was passed into the statute book.
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Whilst Henry assimilated Wales into the English legal system, he did recognise the differences between the two countries and, under the guidance of Thomas Cromwell, Henry inaugurated a separate system of judicature in which the King’s Court of Great Session sat as an independent high court throughout Wales and the Marches. This independent court system endured until the 1830s, when the Duke of Wellington abolished the Welsh Courts of Great Session and brought Wales into the English Assize system.​​
The origins of the circuit system go back to the 12th century, when visiting judges would travel around England and Wales each year on geographically-linked circuits to hear cases, followed by advocates from the Inns of Court in London. At the end of the Assizes on circuit, the caravan of judge and barristers would return to London. By the time of Queen Victoria, Wales was divided into the North Wales Circuit in the North, the South Wales Circuit in the South, and Newport and Monmouthshire fell under the Oxford Circuit.
The barristers grew to associate themselves with a particular geographic circuit, and would levy a ‘fine’ on a non-member of circuit who appeared before a judge on ‘their’ circuit. However, the impact of the Second World War on manpower in Wales required an arrangement to be reached that allowed barristers on the North Wales Circuit to conduct cases in the South Wales Circuit.
After the war, the arrangement was made permanent and the peripatetic itinerary of the judges and barristers stabilised. As such, for the Bench and the Bar, the Wales and Chester Circuit was created. In 1971, the Oxford Circuit was disbanded and divided between its neighbours; as such, at this time the Wales and Chester Circuit incorporated all of Wales.
As both a country and circuit, Wales has its own unique cultural, legal and linguistic traditions, which are championed within England and Wales by the Leader of the Wales & Chester Circuit and the supporting management team. By its geography, Chester has strong cultural and operational links with the Bar and courts in Wales, and so is traditionally included in the Wales & Chester Circuit, but for administrative purposes it is part of the Northern circuit.
From the perspective of the Bar, the circuits now exist to represent barristers’ and legal service users’ interests in a specific geographical area. Each circuit elects a leader who must be a KC, and they serve a three-year team. The role of a leader is to represent the circuit and its members to relevant stakeholders.
As well as representing Wales & Chester on the national stage, the circuit is a subscription-based professional association that offers support and training to the circuit’s chambers, to existing barristers, and to pupil and aspiring barristers. The circuit also promotes the historic collegiate traditions of the Bar by organising functions for the circuit members to socialise and celebrate achievements, known as ‘Bar Messes’.