Hwyel Dda

"Hywel Dda (Hywel the Good) is one of the outstanding figures in the often- clouded early history of Wales. The grandson of Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great), he inherited the relatively small western kingdom of Seiswllyg in around 900 AD. By the time of his death half a century later, his domain had been extended to cover much of modern Wales.

His greatest achievement was the creation of Wales’ first formal legal system. The “Laws of Hywel Dda” remained a cornerstone of Welsh government and culture for several centuries and were a unifying force in an often bitterly divided land."

http://alanindyfed.blogspot.com/2010/09/long-before-magna-carta.html

"Legal documents drafted according to the “Laws of Hywel Dda” survive to the present. One remarkable feature of these distinctly Welsh laws is their recognition of the legal status of women and children. Elsewhere in Europe women were regarded merely as the property of their men folk, a status that persisted for centuries."