Contemporary

After the Union, England (including Wales) retained its separate legal identity since the continuance and separation of Scots law was enshrined in the Articles of the Treaty of Union. Wales was already part of the Kingdom of England but the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 made explicit that laws passed for England were automatically applicable to Wales. The Wales and Berwick Act 1746 also referred to the formerly Scottish burgh of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The border town changed hands several times and was last conquered by England in 1482, but was not officially incorporated into England. Contention about whether Berwick was in England or Scotland was ended by the union of the two in 1707. Berwick remains within the English legal system and so is regarded today as part of England. The county of Monmouthshire had been an ambiguous area with its legal identity passing between England and Wales at various periods; in the Local Government Act 1972 it was made part of Wales. The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands are Crown dependencies and are not part of England nor the United Kingdom.