Wales was officially joined to England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535, sometimes called the Act of Union, during the reign of Henry VIII of England, who was himself partly of Welsh ancestry. The later addition of Scotland and Ireland, formed the United Kingdom. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 provided that all laws that applied to England would automatically apply to Wales unless the law explicitly stated otherwise.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw increased recognition of Wales’s status as a national within the United Kingdom, and the setting up of many national institutions. Laws making special provision for Wales began to be introduced by the UK Parliament in the nineteenth century and this process continued and increased during the twentieth century. In 1948, the Council of Wales, a body that advised the UK Government on Welsh issues, was set up. In 1950’s, the term England and Wales became common for describing the area to which English law applied, and in 1955 Cardiff was proclaimed as capital city of Wales. During the 1960’s, calls for more autonomy, or even complete independence for Wales were increasingly heard. In 1964, the Welsh Office was created by the UK government to take over much of the governance of Wales In 1967, the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 was repealed for Wales, and a legal definition of Wales, and of the boundary with England was legally stated. And in 1968, a Royal Commission was established to look at the question of devolved self-government in Wales and Scotland.

A referendum on the creation of a national assembly for Wales in 1979 resulted in a large majority for the "no" vote. However, in 1997 a second referendum on the issue resulted in a narrow “yes” majority vote. The UK Parliament passed the Government of Wales Act 1998 and the National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru in Welsh) was set up in 1999 and possesses the power to determine how the UK government budget for Wales is spent and administered. A further Government of Wales in 2006 has strengthen the devolution settlement in Wales. From May 2007, it provides for the legal separation of the executive Welsh Assembly Government (Llywodraeth Cynulliad Cymru in Welsh) from the legislative 60-member National Assembly for Wales. The new act also creates a new category of legislation, which will increase the National Assembly’s powers to legislate for Wales and, for the first time, create laws for Wales within defined areas of government.

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