Portal:Wales/Selected article/13

The modern system of county courts in Wales and England dates from the County Courts Act 1846, which received Royal Assent on 28 August 1846 and was brought into force on 15 March 1847. Wales and England (with the exception of the City of London, which was outside the scope of the Act) were divided into sixty circuits, with a total of 491 courts. Four of these circuits were wholly in Wales, as were 46 of these courts. A further seven courts were located in Monmouthshire (which had at the time an ambiguous status and was sometimes treated as being part of England) and these seven courts were part of a circuit for Monmouthshire and Herefordshire. One county court judge was appointed to each circuit, assisted by one or more registrars with some limited judicial powers, and would travel between the courts in his area as necessary, sitting in each court at least once a month. Few permanent courts were needed initially, given the infrequency of court hearings, and temporary accommodation such as a town hall would often be used where there was no existing courthouse for use.