In the thirteenth century the bishops of St Davids began to issue statutes for their cathedral chapter. In doing so they were taking part in a wider European trend, as bishops of the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries started to issue statutes for their cathedral chapters, and, quite often, cathedral chapters themselves made compilations of their regulations for future canons to observe. The thirteenth century was a legislative age, not least in the church, and part of the aim of this paper will be to show how wider European patterns, especially in the wake of the Fourth Lateran Council, made themselves felt in Wales. More particularly however the aim is to set St Davids in the context of the province of Canterbury in the thirteenth century, to see how it compared with larger and richer establishments. First, the forms of thirteenth-century cathedral legislation will be set within the general framework of ecclesiastical statute making, taking note of how cathedral statutes were issued, compiled and preserved, and then attention will be paid to its principal aims, which overwhelmingly concentrated on the regulation of residence, the division of the chapter finances, the disciplining of the minor clergy and the organisation of the liturgy.