The Welsh Language Act 1967 (c. 66) () was an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

, which gave some rights to use the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

in legal proceedings in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

(including

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

) and gave the relevant minister the right to authorise the production of a Welsh version of any documents required or allowed by the Act. The act repealed a part of the

Wales and Berwick Act 1746 The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 (20 Geo. 2. c. 42) was an Act of Parliament, act of the Parliament of Great Britain that created a statutory definition of England as including England, Wales and Berwick-upon-Tweed. The walled garrison town of Be ...

, which defined ''England'' as including Wales. Passed in July 1967, the act was based on the 1965 Hughes Parry Report and campaigns by the

Welsh Language Society The Welsh Language Society (, also often abbreviated to Cymdeithas yr Iaith or just Cymdeithas in English) is a direct action pressure group in Wales campaigning for the right of Welsh people to use the Welsh language in every aspect of their l ...

and members of

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

, although following its passing some campaigners argued it did not go far enough. The act was the first act to significantly improve the rights to use Welsh in legal proceedings and started to remove the ban imposed on the language in law courts and other public administration since the 16th century in favour of English. The act was superseded by the

Welsh Language Act 1993 The Welsh Language Act 1993 (c. 38) () is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales. Act Background After the S4C, Welsh language c ...

Act

The Welsh Language Act 1967 allowed the

to be used in legal proceeding in

, which had previously been banned for centuries. The act allowed government ministers to authorise Welsh translations of any documents required by the act. Although the act gave the Welsh language equal status, it did not give it official status. The act also repealed a part of the

, that had previously defined "England" to include Wales. The legal definition of the territory of Wales was later defined by the combined area of Welsh counties under section 20 of

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. The counties were reorganised by the

Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (c. 19) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to create the current local government structure in Wales of 22 unitary authority areas, referred to as ...

but the territorial definition of Wales remained unchanged.

History

The Welsh Language Act 1967 was partly based on the Hughes Parry Report of 1965, although the act did not include all of the recommendations of the report. The report supported equal importance and significance of Welsh and English in the courts in Wales verbally and in writing. The Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 had made English the only language of the law courts and other aspects of public administration in Wales. This disregarded the majority Welsh-speaking population of Wales in the 16th and 17th centuries, only a few in Wales could fully understand English. It was not until

industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...

, which was described to have led to a system discouraging the use of Welsh as "their natural and native tongue", did the situation change. While the Welsh Courts Act 1942 was the first legislation that allowed some rights to Welsh in legal proceedings since the 16th century, such rights were only exercised if it was proved using English would be disadvantageous, and depended on the availability of a sufficiently fluent Welsh-speaking judge or magistrate. The 1967 Act was the first act to remove restrictions on the Welsh language, and was a response to campaigns by members of

and the

. Following its passing, some "more militant" Welsh language campaigners were not pleased with the act, describing it as "toothless", with some launching an "aggressive and virulent campaign of protest", leading to the burning of cottages and the defacing of English language signage with paint. The 1967 act was superseded by the

, which introduced equal treatment of Welsh and English in "public business and the administration of justice in Wales".

References

{{Authority control Legal history of Wales

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Wales United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1967 History of Monmouthshire Language policy in the United Kingdom Language legislation in the United Kingdom Constitutional laws of Wales

Act

History

See also

References