diff -u b/core/modules/user/user.admin.inc b/core/modules/user/user.admin.inc
--- b/core/modules/user/user.admin.inc
+++ b/core/modules/user/user.admin.inc
@@ -820,60 +820,62 @@
  * @see theme_user_admin_roles()
  */
 function user_admin_roles($form, $form_state) {
-  $roles = user_roles();
+  $roles = db_select('role', 'r')
+    ->addTag('translatable')
+    ->fields('r')
+    ->orderBy('weight')
+    ->orderBy('name')
+    ->execute();
 
   $form['roles'] = array(
     '#tree' => TRUE,
   );
-  $order = 0;
-  foreach ($roles as $rid => $name) {
-    $form['roles'][$rid]['#role'] = (object) array(
-      'rid' => $rid,
-      'name' => $name,
-      'weight' => $order,
+  $max_weight = 0;
+  foreach ($roles as $role) {
+    $max_weight = max($max_weight, $role->weight);
+    $form['roles'][$role->rid]['#role'] = $role;
+    $form['roles'][$role->rid]['#weight'] = $role->weight;
+    $form['roles'][$role->rid]['name'] = array(
+      '#markup' => check_plain($role->name),
     );
-    $form['roles'][$rid]['#weight'] = $order;
-    $form['roles'][$rid]['weight'] = array(
+    $form['roles'][$role->rid]['weight'] = array(
       '#type' => 'textfield',
-      '#title' => t('Weight for @title', array('@title' => $name)),
+      '#title' => t('Weight for @title', array('@title' => $role->name)),
       '#title_display' => 'invisible',
       '#size' => 4,
-      '#default_value' => $order,
+      '#default_value' => $role->weight,
       '#attributes' => array('class' => array('role-weight')),
     );
-    $order++;
+    $form['roles'][$role->rid]['operations']['edit'] = array(
+      '#type' => 'link',
+      '#title' => t('edit role'),
+      '#href' => 'admin/people/permissions/roles/edit/' . $role->rid,
+    );
+    $form['roles'][$role->rid]['operations']['permissions'] = array(
+      '#type' => 'link',
+      '#title' => t('edit permissions'),
+      '#href' => 'admin/people/permissions/' . $role->rid,
+    );
   }
 
-  $form['name'] = array(
-    '#type' => 'textfield',
-    '#title' => t('Name'),
-    '#title_display' => 'invisible',
-    '#size' => 32,
-    '#maxlength' => 255,
-  );
-  $form['rid'] = array(
-    '#type' => 'machine_name',
-    '#size' => 30,
-    '#maxlength' => 64,
-    '#machine_name' => array(
-      'exists' => 'user_role_load',
-      'source' => array('name'),
-    ),
-    // The machine name is not required here to avoid form errors when
-    // re-ordering the roles.
-    // @see user_admin_add_role_validate()
-    '#required' => FALSE,
-  );
-  $form['add'] = array(
-    '#type' => 'submit',
-    '#value' => t('Add role'),
-    '#validate' => array('user_admin_add_role_validate'),
-    '#submit' => array('user_admin_role_submit'),
-  );
-  $form['actions'] = array('#type' => 'actions');
+  // Embed the role add form.
+  $add_role = (object) array(
+    'rid' => NULL,
+    'name' => NULL,
+    'weight' => $max_weight + 1,
+  );
+  $add_form = user_admin_role(array(), $form_state, $add_role);
+  $add_form['actions']['submit']['#submit'] = array('user_admin_role_submit');
+  $add_form['role']['actions'] = $add_form['actions'];
+  unset($add_form['actions']);
+  $form += $add_form;
+
+  $form['actions']['#type'] = 'actions';
   $form['actions']['submit'] = array(
     '#type' => 'submit',
     '#value' => t('Save order'),
+    // Do not validate the add form when saving the order.
+    '#limit_validation_errors' => array(array('roles')),
     '#submit' => array('user_admin_roles_order_submit'),
   );
 
@@ -881,18 +883,6 @@
 }
 
 /**
- * Form validation handler for the user_admin_roles() form.
- */
-function user_admin_add_role_validate($form, &$form_state) {
-  if (empty($form_state['values']['name'])) {
-    form_set_error('name', t('You must specify a valid role name.'));
-  }
-  elseif (empty($form_state['values']['rid'])) {
-    form_set_error('rid', t('Machine-readable name is required.'));
-  }
-}
-
-/**
  * Form submit function. Update the role weights.
  */
 function user_admin_roles_order_submit($form, &$form_state) {
@@ -916,25 +906,29 @@
 function theme_user_admin_roles($variables) {
   $form = $variables['form'];
 
+  $form['role']['name']['#title_display'] = 'invisible';
+  unset($form['role']['name']['#description']);
+  unset($form['role']['rid']['#description']);
+
+  // Distribute role add form into table columns.
+  $form['roles']['add']['name'] = array();
+  $form['roles']['add']['weight'] = $form['role']['weight'];
+  $form['roles']['add']['operations'] = $form['role']['actions'];
+  unset($form['role']['weight']);
+  unset($form['role']['actions']);
+  $form['roles']['add']['name'] = $form['role'];
+  unset($form['role']);
+
   $header = array(t('Name'), t('Weight'), array('data' => t('Operations'), 'colspan' => 2));
   foreach (element_children($form['roles']) as $rid) {
-    $name = $form['roles'][$rid]['#role']->name;
     $row = array();
-    if (in_array($rid, array(DRUPAL_ANONYMOUS_RID, DRUPAL_AUTHENTICATED_RID))) {
-      $row[] = t('@name <em>(locked)</em>', array('@name' => $name));
-      $row[] = drupal_render($form['roles'][$rid]['weight']);
-      $row[] = '';
-      $row[] = l(t('edit permissions'), 'admin/people/permissions/' . $rid);
-    }
-    else {
-      $row[] = check_plain($name);
-      $row[] = drupal_render($form['roles'][$rid]['weight']);
-      $row[] = l(t('edit role'), 'admin/people/permissions/roles/edit/' . $rid);
-      $row[] = l(t('edit permissions'), 'admin/people/permissions/' . $rid);
+    foreach (element_children($form['roles'][$rid]) as $column) {
+      $row[] = drupal_render($form['roles'][$rid][$column]);
     }
     $rows[] = array('data' => $row, 'class' => array('draggable'));
+    if (isset($form['roles'][$rid]['weight'])) {
+    }
   }
-  $rows[] = array(array('data' => drupal_render($form['name']) . drupal_render($form['rid']) . drupal_render($form['add']), 'colspan' => 4, 'class' => 'edit-name'));
 
   drupal_add_tabledrag('user-roles', 'order', 'sibling', 'role-weight');
 
@@ -955,8 +949,12 @@
     drupal_goto('admin/people/permissions/roles');
   }
 
-  // Display the edit role form.
-  $form['name'] = array(
+  $form['role'] = array(
+    '#tree' => TRUE,
+    '#parents' => array('role'),
+  );
+
+  $form['role']['name'] = array(
     '#type' => 'textfield',
     '#title' => t('Role name'),
     '#default_value' => $role->name,
@@ -965,23 +963,31 @@
     '#maxlength' => 64,
     '#description' => t('The name for this role. Example: "moderator", "editorial board", "site architect".'),
   );
-  $form['rid'] = array(
+  $form['role']['rid'] = array(
     '#type' => 'machine_name',
     '#default_value' => $role->rid,
-    '#disabled' => TRUE,
+    '#required' => TRUE,
+    '#disabled' => !empty($role->rid),
+    '#size' => 30,
+    '#maxlength' => 64,
+    '#machine_name' => array(
+      'exists' => 'user_role_load',
+      'source' => array('role', 'name'),
+    ),
   );
-  $form['weight'] = array(
+  $form['role']['weight'] = array(
     '#type' => 'value',
     '#value' => $role->weight,
   );
   $form['actions'] = array('#type' => 'actions');
   $form['actions']['submit'] = array(
     '#type' => 'submit',
-    '#value' => t('Save role'),
+    '#value' => !empty($role->rid) ? t('Save role') : t('Add role'),
   );
   $form['actions']['delete'] = array(
     '#type' => 'submit',
     '#value' => t('Delete role'),
+    '#access' => !empty($role->rid),
     '#submit' => array('user_admin_role_delete_submit'),
   );
 
@@ -992,24 +998,22 @@
  * Form submit handler for the user_admin_role() form.
  */
 function user_admin_role_submit($form, &$form_state) {
-  $role = (object) $form_state['values'];
-  if ($form_state['values']['op'] == t('Save role')) {
-    user_role_save($role);
+  $role = (object) $form_state['values']['role'];
+  $status = user_role_save($role);
+  if ($status === SAVED_UPDATED) {
     drupal_set_message(t('The role has been renamed.'));
   }
-  elseif ($form_state['values']['op'] == t('Add role')) {
-    user_role_save($role);
+  else {
     drupal_set_message(t('The role has been added.'));
   }
   $form_state['redirect'] = 'admin/people/permissions/roles';
-  return;
 }
 
 /**
  * Form submit handler for the user_admin_role() form.
  */
 function user_admin_role_delete_submit($form, &$form_state) {
-  $form_state['redirect'] = 'admin/people/permissions/roles/delete/' . $form_state['values']['rid'];
+  $form_state['redirect'] = 'admin/people/permissions/roles/delete/' . $form_state['values']['role']['rid'];
 }
 
 /**
diff -u b/core/modules/user/user.css b/core/modules/user/user.css
--- b/core/modules/user/user.css
+++ b/core/modules/user/user.css
@@ -15,19 +15,6 @@
 }
 
 /**
- * Override default textfield float to put the "Add role" button next to
- * the input textfield.
- */
-#user-admin-roles td.edit-name {
-  clear: both;
-}
-#user-admin-roles .form-item-name,
-#user-admin-roles .form-item-rid {
-  float: left; /* LTR */
-  margin-right: 1em; /* LTR */
-}
-
-/**
  * Password strength indicator.
  */
 .password-strength {
diff -u b/core/modules/user/user.install b/core/modules/user/user.install
--- b/core/modules/user/user.install
+++ b/core/modules/user/user.install
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@
         // limit the maximum length.
         'length' => 64,
         'not null' => TRUE,
-        'description' => 'Primary Key: Unique user role ID.',
+        'description' => 'Primary Key: Unique role ID.',
       ),
       'name' => array(
         'type' => 'varchar',
@@ -389,7 +389,7 @@
     'type' => 'varchar',
     'length' => 64,
     'not null' => TRUE,
-    'description' => 'Primary Key: Unique user role ID.',
+    'description' => 'Primary Key: Unique role ID.',
   );
   db_change_field('role', 'rid', 'rid', $column);
 
diff -u b/core/modules/user/user.module b/core/modules/user/user.module
--- b/core/modules/user/user.module
+++ b/core/modules/user/user.module
@@ -2650,24 +2650,10 @@
     $query->innerJoin('role_permission', 'p', 'r.rid = p.rid');
     $query->condition('p.permission', $permission);
   }
-  $result = $query->execute();
-
-  $roles = array();
-  foreach ($result as $role) {
-    switch ($role->rid) {
-      // We only translate the built in role names
-      case DRUPAL_ANONYMOUS_RID:
-        if (!$membersonly) {
-          $roles[$role->rid] = t($role->name);
-        }
-        break;
-      case DRUPAL_AUTHENTICATED_RID:
-        $roles[$role->rid] = t($role->name);
-        break;
-      default:
-        $roles[$role->rid] = $role->name;
-    }
+  if ($membersonly) {
+    $query->condition('r.rid', DRUPAL_ANONYMOUS_RID, '!=');
   }
+  $roles = $query->execute()->fetchAllKeyed();
 
   if (empty($permission)) {
     $user_roles[$cid] = $roles;
diff -u b/core/modules/user/user.test b/core/modules/user/user.test
--- b/core/modules/user/user.test
+++ b/core/modules/user/user.test
@@ -2008,7 +2008,7 @@
 
   public static function getInfo() {
     return array(
-      'name' => 'User role administration',
+      'name' => 'Role administration',
       'description' => 'Test adding, editing and deleting user roles and changing role weights.',
       'group' => 'User',
     );
@@ -2029,7 +2029,7 @@
     // correspond to an integer, to test that the role administration pages
     // correctly distinguish between role names and IDs.)
     $role_name = '123';
-    $edit = array('name' => $role_name, 'rid' => $role_name);
+    $edit = array('role[name]' => $role_name, 'role[rid]' => $role_name);
     $this->drupalPost('admin/people/permissions/roles', $edit, t('Add role'));
     $this->assertText(t('The role has been added.'), t('The role has been added.'));
     $role = user_role_load($role_name);
@@ -2042,7 +2042,7 @@
     // Test renaming a role.
     $old_name = $role_name;
     $role_name = '456';
-    $edit = array('name' => $role_name);
+    $edit = array('role[name]' => $role_name);
     $this->drupalPost("admin/people/permissions/roles/edit/{$role->rid}", $edit, t('Save role'));
     $this->assertText(t('The role has been renamed.'), t('The role has been renamed.'));
     $new_role = user_role_load($old_name);
only in patch2:
unchanged:
--- a/core/modules/user/user-rtl.css
+++ b/core/modules/user/user-rtl.css
@@ -4,12 +4,6 @@
   padding-right: 1.5em;
 }
 
-#user-admin-roles .form-item-name {
-  float: right;
-  margin-left: 1em;
-  margin-right: 0;
-}
-
 /**
  * Password strength indicator.
  */