Between the Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284 and the Laws in Wales Act 1535, crown land in Wales formed the Principality of Wales. This was divided into a Principality of South Wales and a Principality of North Wales. The southern principality was made up of the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, areas that had previously been part of the Welsh kingdom of Deheubarth ('the southern land'). The legal responsibility for this area lay in the hands of the Justiciar of South Wales based at Carmarthen. Other parts of southern Wales were in the hands of various Marcher Lords.