69-560: (Redirected from Union Act ) Act of Union may refer to: In Great Britain and Ireland [ edit ] Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 , passed during the reign of King Henry VIII to make Wales a part of the Kingdom of England, often referred to in the plural as the "Acts of Union" (Welsh, Y Deddfau Uno ) Tender of Union (Act of Union 1652), Tender of Union uniting Scotland with
138-467: A directly democratic form of government that was to have a long afterlife in political thought and history. During Medieval times in Europe, the state was organized on the principle of feudalism , and the relationship between lord and vassal became central to social organization. Feudalism led to the development of greater social hierarchies. The formalization of the struggles over taxation between
207-468: A federal union . A federated state is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federation . (Compare confederacies or confederations such as Switzerland.) Such states differ from sovereign states in that they have transferred a portion of their sovereign powers to a federal government . One can commonly and sometimes readily (but not necessarily usefully) classify states according to their apparent make-up or focus. The concept of
276-664: A 1542 ) or the Acts of Union ( Welsh : Y Deddfau Uno ), were Acts of the Parliament of England under King Henry VIII of England , causing Wales to be incorporated into the realm of the Kingdom of England . The legal system of England and the norms of English administration including the use of the English language only were applied to a mainly Welsh-speaking Wales. This created a single state and legal jurisdiction , which
345-565: A 1918 union granting independence to Iceland Other uses [ edit ] Act of Union , a poem by Seamus Heaney , written in 1975 Bull of Union with the Greeks ( Laetentur Caeli ), a 1439 papal bull sometimes referred to as the Act of Union Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Act of Union . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
414-441: A certain range of political phenomena . According to Walter Scheidel, mainstream definitions of the state have the following in common: "centralized institutions that impose rules, and back them up by force, over a territorially circumscribed population; a distinction between the rulers and the ruled; and an element of autonomy, stability, and differentiation. These distinguish the state from less stable forms of organization, such as
483-426: A given territory." While defining a state, it is important not to confuse it with a nation; an error that occurs frequently in common discussion. A state refers to a political unit with sovereignty over a given territory. While a state is more of a "political-legal abstraction," the definition of a nation is more concerned with political identity and cultural or historical factors. Importantly, nations do not possess
552-402: A government and its state is one of representation and authorized agency. Charles Tilly distinguished between empires, theocracies, city-states and nation-states. According to Michael Mann , the four persistent types of state activities are: Josep Colomer distinguished between empires and states in the following way: According to Michael Hechter and William Brustein , the modern state
621-616: A political philosophy of the state, and to have rationally analyzed political institutions. Prior to this, states were described and justified in terms of religious myths. Several important political innovations of classical antiquity came from the Greek city-states and the Roman Republic . The Greek city-states before the 4th century granted citizenship rights to their free population, and in Athens these rights were combined with
690-536: A privileged and wealthy ruling class that was subordinate to a monarch . The ruling classes began to differentiate themselves through forms of architecture and other cultural practices that were different from those of the subordinate laboring classes. In the past, it was suggested that the centralized state was developed to administer large public works systems (such as irrigation systems) and to regulate complex economies. However, modern archaeological and anthropological evidence does not support this thesis, pointing to
759-458: A slightly different definition of the state with respect to the nation: the state is "a primordial, essential, and permanent expression of the genius of a specific [nation]." The definition of a state is also dependent on how and why they form. The contractarian view of the state suggests that states form because people can all benefit from cooperation with others and that without a state there would be chaos. The contractarian view focuses more on
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#1732765268931828-408: A specific state. In the classical thought, the state was identified with both political society and civil society as a form of political community, while the modern thought distinguished the nation state as a political society from civil society as a form of economic society. Thus in the modern thought the state is contrasted with civil society. Antonio Gramsci believed that civil society
897-407: A state faces some practical limits via the degree to which other states recognize them as such. Definitions of a state are disputed. According to sociologist Max Weber : a "state" is a polity that maintains a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence , although other definitions are common. Absence of a state does not preclude the existence of a society , such as stateless societies like
966-618: A system peculiar to Wales, with a Sheriff appointed in every county, and other county officers as in England. The courts of the marcher lordships lost the power to try serious criminal cases, all courts in Wales were to be conducted in the English language, not Welsh, and the office of justice of the peace was introduced, nine to every county. In the Welsh Principality , assimilation had already been greatly implemented and so
1035-402: Is composed of a specialized and privileged body of individuals, who monopolize political decision-making, and are separated by status and organization from the population as a whole. States can also be distinguished from the concept of a " nation ", where "nation" refers to a cultural-political community of people. A nation-state refers to a situation where a single ethnicity is associated with
1104-420: Is considered by some such as Adam Smith as a central function of the state, since these goods would otherwise be underprovided. Tilly has challenged narratives of the state as being the result of a societal contract or provision of services in a free market – he characterizes the state more akin as a protection racket in the vein of organized crime. While economic and political philosophers have contested
1173-456: Is considered to form the fundamental apparatus of contemporary states. A country often has a single state, with various administrative divisions . A state may be a unitary state or some type of federal union ; in the latter type, the term "state" is sometimes used to refer to the federated polities that make up the federation , and they may have some of the attributes of a sovereign state , except being under their federation and without
1242-474: Is now called England and Wales . Before these Acts, Wales had already been annexed by England in 1284 and was excluded from parliamentary representation. Wales was divided between the Principality of Wales and many feudal statelets called the marcher Lordships which were effectively unified under the laws. The English county system was also extended across all of Wales. After Henry VIII made himself
1311-414: Is the primary locus of political activity because it is where all forms of "identity formation, ideological struggle, the activities of intellectuals, and the construction of hegemony take place." and that civil society was the nexus connecting the economic and political sphere. Arising out of the collective actions of civil society is what Gramsci calls "political society", which Gramsci differentiates from
1380-469: The Amazon rainforest , which are uninhabited or inhabited solely or mostly by indigenous people (and some of them remain uncontacted ). Also, there are so-called " failed states " which do not hold de facto control over all of their claimed territory or where this control is challenged. Currently the international community comprises around 200 sovereign states , the vast majority of which are represented in
1449-523: The Andes . It is only in relatively modern times that states have almost completely displaced alternative " stateless " forms of political organization of societies all over the planet . Roving bands of hunter-gatherers and even fairly sizable and complex tribal societies based on herding or agriculture have existed without any full-time specialized state organization, and these "stateless" forms of political organization have in fact prevailed for all of
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#17327652689311518-703: The Haudenosaunee Confederacy that "do not have either purely or even primarily political institutions or roles". The degree and extent of governance of a state is used to determine whether it has failed . The word state and its cognates in some other European languages ( stato in Italian, estado in Spanish and Portuguese, état in French, Staat in German and Dutch) ultimately derive from
1587-549: The United Nations . For most of human history, people have lived in stateless societies , characterized by a lack of concentrated authority, and the absence of large inequalities in economic and political power . The anthropologist Tim Ingold writes: It is not enough to observe, in a now rather dated anthropological idiom, that hunter gatherers live in 'stateless societies', as though their social lives were somehow lacking or unfinished, waiting to be completed by
1656-517: The growth of cities , which was often dependent on climate, and economic development , with centralisation often spurred on by insecurity and territorial competition. Over time, a variety of forms of states developed, which used many different justifications for their existence (such as divine right , the theory of the social contract , etc.). Today, the modern nation state is the predominant form of state to which people are subject. Sovereign states have sovereignty ; any ingroup 's claim to have
1725-655: The prehistory and much of human history and civilization . The primary competing organizational forms to the state were religious organizations (such as the Church), and city republics . Since the late 19th century, virtually the entirety of the world's inhabitable land has been parcelled up into areas with more or less definite borders claimed by various states. Earlier, quite large land areas had been either unclaimed or uninhabited, or inhabited by nomadic peoples who were not organised as states . However, even within present-day states there are vast areas of wilderness, like
1794-472: The " status rei publicae ", the "condition of public matters". In time, the word lost its reference to particular social groups and became associated with the legal order of the entire society and the apparatus of its enforcement. The early 16th-century works of Machiavelli (especially The Prince ) played a central role in popularizing the use of the word "state" in something similar to its modern sense. The contrasting of church and state still dates to
1863-422: The "repressive state apparatus" (such as police and military) in reproducing social relations. Jürgen Habermas spoke of a public sphere that was distinct from both the economic and political sphere. Given the role that many social groups have in the development of public policy and the extensive connections between state bureaucracies and other institutions, it has become increasingly difficult to identify
1932-549: The 1536 and 1542/43 acts in reality brought some legal consistency across Wales, effectively extending the Principality to the Welsh Marches and ending use of Welsh law . The legal simplicity made it easier for the English crown to collect tax in Wales. After the conquest of Wales by Edward I , the counties of Anglesey, Caernarfonshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Flintshire and Merionethshire were added to by
2001-471: The 16th century. The North American colonies were called "states" as early as the 1630s. The expression "L'État, c'est moi" (" I am the State ") attributed to Louis XIV , although probably apocryphal, is recorded in the late 18th century. There is no academic consensus on the definition of the state. The term "state" refers to a set of different, but interrelated and often overlapping, theories about
2070-428: The Acts came in 1536 and was later strengthened by the Act of 1542/43. The Acts aimed to integrate the legal, political and administrative systems of Wales with England and make English the language of the courts in Wales, which was a mainly Welsh speaking country at the time. The preamble of the Acts suggests that legal differences in Wales led to discontent, which the English establishment wished to end. The Acts were
2139-497: The Acts of Union. The aim of the acts were to incorporate Wales into what Henry VIII of England saw as part of his Tudor Empire, with himself as sovereign ruler. The acts were not popularly referred to as the "Acts of Union" until 1901, when historian Owen M. Edwards assigned them that name. This name is misleading and the legal short title of each Act has since 1948 been "The Laws in Wales Act". They are also often seen cited by
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2208-694: The Commonwealth of England Acts of Union 1707 , passed by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain Acts of Union 1800 , passed by both the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland In the British Empire [ edit ] Act of Union 1840 , passed by
2277-477: The English language upon the Welsh people and allowed Welsh representation in the English parliament. These Acts also had many effects on the administration of Wales. The marcher lordships were abolished as political units, and five new counties were established on Welsh lands ( Monmouthshire , Brecknockshire , Radnorshire , Montgomeryshire and Denbighshire ), thus creating a Wales of 13 counties ; Other areas of
2346-480: The Latin word status , meaning "condition, circumstances". Latin status derives from stare , "to stand", or remain or be permanent, thus providing the sacred or magical connotation of the political entity. The English noun state in the generic sense "condition, circumstances" predates the political sense. It was introduced to Middle English c. 1200 both from Old French and directly from Latin. With
2415-592: The Parliament of the UK, joining Upper Canada and Lower Canada to form the Province of Canada South Africa Act 1909 , passed by the Parliament of the UK creating the Union of South Africa, sometimes referred to as the Act of Union In Scandinavia [ edit ] Riksakten (Act of Union 1814), the Union between Sweden and Norway, forming a personal union between Sweden and Norway Danish–Icelandic Act of Union ,
2484-465: The act of 1542 was passed in 1543 in the second session of Henry VIII's 8th parliament, which began on 22 January 1542/43. The act declared King Henry's intentions, that because of differences in law and language: – and therefore: That his said Country or Dominion of Wales shall be, stand and continue for ever from henceforth incorporated, united and annexed to and with this his Realm of England ; The Laws in Wales Act 1535 imposed English law and
2553-413: The alignment and conflict of interests between individuals in a state. On the other hand, the predatory view of the state focuses on the potential mismatch between the interests of the people and interests of the state. Charles Tilly goes so far to say that states "resemble a form of organized crime and should be viewed as extortion rackets." He argued that the state sells protection from itself and raises
2622-427: The archaeological record as of 6000 BC; in Europe they appeared around 990, but became particularly prominent after 1490. Tilly defines a state's "essential minimal activities" as: Importantly, Tilly makes the case that war is an essential part of state-making; that wars create states and vice versa. Modern academic definitions of the state frequently include the criterion that a state has to be recognized as such by
2691-549: The boundaries of the state. Privatization , nationalization , and the creation of new regulatory bodies also change the boundaries of the state in relation to society. Often the nature of quasi-autonomous organizations is unclear, generating debate among political scientists on whether they are part of the state or civil society. Some political scientists thus prefer to speak of policy networks and decentralized governance in modern societies rather than of state bureaucracies and direct state control over policy. The earliest forms of
2760-476: The emergence of a social class of people who did not have to spend most of their time providing for their own subsistence, and writing (or an equivalent of writing, like Inca quipus ) because it made possible the centralization of vital information. Bureaucratization made expansion over large territories possible. The first known states were created in Egypt , Mesopotamia , India , China , Mesoamerica , and
2829-455: The evolutionary development of a state apparatus. Rather, the principal of their socialty, as Pierre Clastres has put it, is fundamentally against the state. During the Neolithic period, human societies underwent major cultural and economic changes, including the development of agriculture , the formation of sedentary societies and fixed settlements, increasing population densities, and
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2898-412: The exercise of chiefly power." The most commonly used definition is by Max Weber who describes the state as a compulsory political organization with a centralized government that maintains a monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a certain territory. Weber writes that the state "is a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within
2967-562: The existence of several non-stratified and politically decentralized complex societies. Mesopotamia is generally considered to be the location of the earliest civilization or complex society , meaning that it contained cities , full-time division of labor , social concentration of wealth into capital , unequal distribution of wealth , ruling classes, community ties based on residency rather than kinship , long distance trade , monumental architecture , standardized forms of art and culture, writing, and mathematics and science . It
3036-619: The fore: note the res publica of ancient Rome and the Rzeczpospolita of Poland-Lithuania which finds echoes in the modern-day republic . The concept of temple states centred on religious shrines occurs in some discussions of the ancient world. Relatively small city-states , once a relatively common and often successful form of polity, have become rarer and comparatively less prominent in modern times. Modern-day independent city-states include Vatican City , Monaco , and Singapore . Other city-states survive as federated states, like
3105-409: The formerly Marcher counties of Brecknockshire, Denbighshire, Glamorgan, Montgomeryshire, Pembrokeshire and Radnorshire. This also formed a legal border with England. Although the poor people of Wales may not have been aware of the laws, the measures were popular with the Welsh gentry who saw the acts as bringing legal equality with English citizens. The Acts were also seen by the gentry as reducing
3174-437: The government is the particular group of people, the administrative bureaucracy that controls the state apparatus at a given time. That is, governments are the means through which state power is employed. States are served by a continuous succession of different governments. States are immaterial and nonphysical social objects, whereas governments are groups of people with certain coercive powers. Each successive government
3243-467: The head of the Church of England in 1534, Wales was seen as a potential problem which included some ambitious men unhappy with ethnic disadvantage in Wales and frustrated with legal complexities. Wales had also been the landing ground for Henry VII and was close to Catholic Ireland. Chief administrator to the English crown Thomas Cromwell , brought forward Acts to unify Wales with England. The first of
3312-423: The influence of the marcher lords . English was made the legal language in Wales, which was symbolically unjust for the majority Welsh monoglot population. Although the centre of political power was England, the Welsh language remained the language of the people and the land. State (polity) A state is a political entity that regulates society and the population within a territory . Government
3381-626: The international community. Liberal thought provides another possible teleology of the state. According to John Locke, the goal of the state or commonwealth is "the preservation of property" (Second Treatise on Government), with 'property' in Locke's work referring not only to personal possessions but also to one's life and liberty. On this account, the state provides the basis for social cohesion and productivity, creating incentives for wealth-creation by providing guarantees of protection for one's life, liberty and personal property. Provision of public goods
3450-411: The lack of war which European states relied on. A state should not be confused with a government; a government is an organization that has been granted the authority to act on the behalf of a state. Nor should a state be confused with a society; a society refers to all organized groups, movements, and individuals who are independent of the state and seek to remain out of its influence. Neuberger offers
3519-477: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Act_of_Union&oldid=1083651112 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 ( Welsh : Y Deddfau Cyfreithiau yng Nghymru 1535
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#17327652689313588-412: The lordships were annexed to Shropshire , Herefordshire , Gloucestershire , Glamorgan , Carmarthenshire , Pembrokeshire , Cardiganshire and Merionethshire ; The borders of Wales for administrative/government purposes were established and have remained the same since; this was unintentional as Wales was to be incorporated fully into England, but the status of Monmouthshire was still ambiguous in
3657-473: The monarch and other elements of society (especially the nobility and the cities) gave rise to what is now called the Standestaat , or the state of Estates, characterized by parliaments in which key social groups negotiated with the king about legal and economic matters. These estates of the realm sometimes evolved in the direction of fully-fledged parliaments, but sometimes lost out in their struggles with
3726-552: The monopolistic tendency of states, Robert Nozick argues that the use of force naturally tends towards monopoly. Another commonly accepted definition of the state is the one given at the Montevideo Convention on Rights and Duties of States in 1933. It provides that "[t]he state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with
3795-692: The nation-state, theoretically or ideally co-terminous with a "nation", became very popular by the 20th century in Europe, but occurred rarely elsewhere or at other times. In contrast, some states have sought to make a virtue of their multi-ethnic or multinational character ( Habsburg Austria-Hungary , for example, or the Soviet Union ), and have emphasised unifying characteristics such as autocracy , monarchical legitimacy , or ideology . Other states, often fascist or authoritarian ones, promoted state-sanctioned notions of racial superiority . Other states may bring ideas of commonality and inclusiveness to
3864-439: The notion of the state as a polity. He stated that politics was not a "one-way process of political management" but, rather, that the activities of civil organizations conditioned the activities of political parties and state institutions, and were conditioned by them in turn. Louis Althusser argued that civil organizations such as church , schools , and the family are part of an "ideological state apparatus" which complements
3933-475: The organizational characteristics like geographic boundaries or authority figures and officials that states do. Additionally, a nation does not have a claim to a monopoly on the legitimate use of force over their populace, while a state does, as Weber indicated. An example of the instability that arises when a state does not have a monopoly on the use of force can be seen in African states which remain weak due to
4002-433: The other states." And that "[t]he federal state shall constitute a sole person in the eyes of international law." Confounding the definition problem is that "state" and "government" are often used as synonyms in common conversation and even some academic discourse. According to this definition schema, the states are nonphysical persons of international law , governments are organizations of people. The relationship between
4071-404: The present day German city-states , or as otherwise autonomous entities with limited sovereignty, like Hong Kong , Gibraltar and Ceuta . To some extent, urban secession , the creation of a new city-state (sovereign or federated), continues to be discussed in the early 21st century in cities such as London . A state can be distinguished from a government . The state is the organization while
4140-497: The question about why people should trust a state when they cannot trust one another. Tilly defines states as "coercion-wielding organisations that are distinct from households and kinship groups and exercise clear priority in some respects over all other organizations within substantial territories." Tilly includes city-states, theocracies and empires in his definition along with nation-states, but excludes tribes, lineages, firms and churches. According to Tilly, states can be seen in
4209-576: The result of a long process of assimilation. Wales had been annexed by England, following the conquest by Edward I , under the Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284 . The two acts have the long titles An Act for Laws and Justice to be ministered in Wales in like Form as it is in this Realm and An Act for Certain Ordinances in the King's Majesty's Dominion and Principality of Wales . Together they are known as
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#17327652689314278-472: The revival of the Roman law in 14th-century Europe, the term came to refer to the legal standing of persons (such as the various " estates of the realm " – noble, common, and clerical), and in particular the special status of the king. The highest estates, generally those with the most wealth and social rank, were those that held power. The word also had associations with Roman ideas (dating back to Cicero ) about
4347-433: The same capacity to act internationally. (Other terms that are used in such federal systems may include " province ", " region " or other terms.) For most of prehistory people lived in stateless societies . The earliest forms of states arose about 5,500 years ago. Over time societies became more stratified and developed institutions leading to centralised governments. These gained state capacity in conjunction with
4416-486: The state emerged whenever it became possible to centralize power in a durable way. Agriculture and a settled population have been attributed as necessary conditions to form states. Certain types of agriculture are more conducive to state formation, such as grain (wheat, barley, millet), because they are suited to concentrated production, taxation, and storage. Agriculture and writing are almost everywhere associated with this process: agriculture because it allowed for
4485-461: The use of pottery and more complex tools. Sedentary agriculture led to the development of property rights , domestication of plants and animals, and larger family sizes. It also provided the basis for an external centralized state. By producing a large surplus of food, more division of labor was realized, which enabled people to specialize in tasks other than food production. Early states were characterized by highly stratified societies, with
4554-585: The view of some people until confirmed by the Local Government Act 1972 . Each county or shire consisted of fewer than a dozen hundreds corresponding with varying degrees of accuracy to the former commotes . Wales elected members to the English (Westminster) Parliament, and the Council of Wales and the Marches was established on a legal basis. The Court of Great Sessions was established,
4623-437: The years they received royal assent , 1536 and 1543 respectively, although the official citation uses the preceding years, as each of these Acts was passed between 1 January and 25 March , at a time when New Year's Day fell on 25 March . The Laws in Wales Act 1535 was passed in 1536 in the 8th session of Henry VIII's 5th parliament, which began on 4 February 1535/36, and repealed with effect from 21 December 1993. Meanwhile
4692-481: Was differentiated from "leagues of independent cities, empires, federations held together by loose central control, and theocratic federations" by four characteristics: States may be classified by political philosophers as sovereign if they are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Other states are subject to external sovereignty or hegemony where ultimate sovereignty lies in another state. Many states are federated states which participate in
4761-541: Was the world's first literate civilization, and formed the first sets of written laws . Bronze metallurgy spread within Afro-Eurasia from c. 3000 BC , leading to a military revolution in the use of bronze weaponry, which facilitated the rise of states. Although state-forms existed before the rise of the Ancient Greek empire, the Greeks were the first people known to have explicitly formulated
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