The Bailiff of Jersey (French: Le Bailli de Jersey) is the civic head of the Bailiwick of Jersey. In this role, he is not the head of government nor the head of state, but the chief justice of Jersey and presiding officer of Jersey's parliament, the States Assembly. The Bailiff is also the President of the Royal Court. It is similar in role to the Bailiff of Guernsey.
The position of Bailiff in Norman law predates the separation of Normandy in 1204.[2] When the Channel Islands were granted self-governance by King John after 1204, legislative power was vested in 12 jurats, the twelve "senior men" of the island. Along with the Bailiff, they would form the Royal Court, which determined all civil and criminal causes (except treason).[3]
Any oppression by a bailiff or a warden was to be resolved locally or failing that, by appeal to the King who appointed commissioners to report on disputes.[citation needed] In the late 1270s, Jersey was given its own Bailiff (the first record of someone holding the position is in 1277) and from the 1290s, the duties of Bailiff and Warden were separated. The (Sub-)Warden became responsible for taxation and defence, while the Bailiff became responsible for justice. While probably originally a temporary arrangement by Otto de Grandison, this became permanent and the foundation for Jersey's modern separation of Crown and justice. It also lessened the Warden's authority relative to the Bailiff, who had much more interaction with the community.[4]
In 1462, the occupying French Governor de Brézé issued ordinances outlining the role of the Bailiff and the Jurats.[5]:38 It may well be during this occupation that the island saw the establishment of the States. Comte Maulevrier, who had led the invasion of the island, ordered the holding of an Assize in the island. Maulevrier confirmed the place of existing institutions, however created the requirement for Jurats to be chosen by Bailiffs, Jurats, Rectors and Constables.[6] The earliest extant Act of the States dates from 1524.[7]
Peyton was also against democracy in the form of the States and the freedoms of the Courts in Jersey. In 1615, Jean Hérault was appointed Bailiff by the King, having been promised the role by letters patent in 1611. Peyton disputed this appointment, claiming it was the Governor's jurisdiction to appoint the Bailiff. Hérault asserted it was the King's jurisdiction to directly appoint the Bailiff. An Order in Council (dated 9 August 1615) sided with Hérault.
Hérault took this to claim the Bailiff was the real head of government and took steps to assert the precedence of the Bailiff over Governor: he ordered his name to be placed before the Governor's in church prayers and was the first Bailiff to wear red robes (in the style of English judges). To back his claims, he cited that in the Norman administrative tradition, the Bailiffs had "no one above them except the Duke".[8]:96–7[2] Though the Privy Council did not agree with Hérault's extreme position on the precedence of the Bailiff, on 18 February 1617 it declared that the "charge of military forces be wholly in the Governor, and the care of justice and civil affairs in the Bailiff." This secured for the Bailiff precedence over the Governor on justice and civil affairs.[2]
By 1750, the Bailiffship had de facto become a hereditary position in the de Carteret family. Absences of the de Carterets and all other high-ranking posts left Charles Lempière, the Lieutenant Bailiff, in effective full control over the island. Lempière was a Parliamentarian, but by temperament was autocratic. His family had significant power with a number of high-ranking roles in the island and he issued ordinances and quashed protest through his court.[8]:195
After the 1948 States reforms, Jurats were removed from the States, now only sitting on the Royal Court (and the Licensing Assembly). The reforms declared that the Bailiff shall be the judge of the law, and the Jurats the "judge of fact".[8]:278–9
Appointment
The Bailiff is appointed by the Crown through letters patent after consultation with the Island. They serve at His Majesty's pleasure, usually until an age of retirement as specified in their letters patent, unless they resign earlier.[9]
Roles
Ex-Bailiff Sir Philip Bailhache divides the role of Bailiff into four 'headings' –
President of the Royal Court
President of the States
Ancillary functions deriving from the Presidency of the Royal Court
Ancillary functions deriving from the Presidency of the States
The full list is expanded on in detail below, but the functions can be summarised as --
Chief Justice and President of the Royal Court
Speaker and President of the States Assembly
Chief citizen of the island
President of the Licensing Assembly
Official conduit between the Government and UK Government
Licensor of public entertainment
Ceremonial functions: keeper of the Royal Mace, custodian of the island's seal
The Bailiff is the Chef Magistrat of the island and presides over the Royal Court and the Court of Appeal. They sit in court with at least two jurats. They are a judge of law but not generally a judge of fact. Instead, the jurats normally decide the facts in civil and the sentence in criminal cases. The Bailiff appoints - but alone cannot suspend or dismiss - the Judicial Greffier (the clerk of the court). The Bailiff can also issue search warrants.[2]
In the States, the Bailiff is the President (Speaker) of the Assembly. This position has been in place from the origins of the States in the 16th century, particularly because the States began as a consulting body of the Royal Court and the Bailiff was the President of the Court. The Bailiff has a vote in the event the States is equally divided, but traditionally uses it to preserve the status quo.[2] In the Chamber, the Bailiff's seat is 18cm (7.1in) higher than the Lieutenant Governor's to emphasise the Bailiff's higher position in regard to the island's civil government.[9] Through this presidency, the Bailiff is the island's chief citizen (hence the island is known as a Bailiwick). They are the official channel of communication between the island authorities and the UK Government, though this has altered since the development of ministerial government and the creation of the role of Chief Minister. The Bailiff is President of the Emergencies Council, which was established in 1990.[2]
In addition to these two roles, the Bailiff presides the College of Electors, who appoint the Jurats, and he presides over the Licensing Assembly, the remains of a body which once exercised considerable administrative authority, but now only has the powers to grant alcohol licences. Furthermore, the Bailiff has powers over public entertainment. All public entertainment - such as music festivals or the Battle of Flowers - can only take place by permission of the Bailiff. This is done on consultation with public services and standards of public decency.[2]
The Bailiff is also the keeper of the island's Royal Mace the custodian of the island's seal, first granted by Edward I in 1279.[2]
Future
The dual role of the Bailiff as head of the judiciary and President of the States has been criticised. The 2000 Clothier report (into the Machinery of Government) argues against the dual role on the grounds that –[10]
No one should hold political power unless elected (the Bailiff is unelected) and the Speaker of a parliament cannot be non-political
Consequently, the States cannot remove the Bailiff, as he is appointed by letters patent
No one involved in making laws should be involved judicially in a dispute based upon them.
The States President makes decisions about who should and should not be allowed to speak, but the Bailiff cannot then determine challenges to those decisions in the Royal Court.
Such calls for the separation of the office's powers are longstanding: in 1859, writer Helier Simon called a potential separation "desirable".[2] The report therefore recommends that the Bailiff is removed as President of the States and that the States should elect their own Speaker.[10]
The dual role has been defended on the grounds that the modern position of Bailiff is held in good temperament. Criticims do not account for the independence in action of successive Bailiffs and therefore the supposed conflict in the lack of separation of powers only exists in theory, and not in practice.[10] Ex-Bailiff Sir Philip Bailhache argues that, if the States Presidency were removed from the jurisdiction of the Bailiff, the Bailiff could no longer be described as the island's chief citizen.[2]
Holders
The list of bailiffs is only reliably traceable from Philippe L'Evesque's appointment in 1277, although earlier bailiffs are mentioned and the office may date from before 1204.
In this caricature of 1873, Bailiff of Jersey Jean Hammond (left) greets the newly arrived Lieutenant Governor with the question: "Your papers, please?"
Jersey – the largest of the Channel Islands – has been an island for around 6,000 years. Early inhabitation is evidenced by various neolithic monuments and hoards. In the 10th century, Jersey became part of Normandy. When the Normans conquered England in the 11th century, Jersey remained a part of the Duchy of Normandy, but when Normandy and England were finally split in the 13th century, the Channel Islands remained loyal to the English Crown, splitting Jersey politically from mainland Normandy.
The Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown dependency, unitary state and parliamentary representative democracy and constitutional monarchy. The head of the civil administration and judiciary is the Bailiff Timothy Le Cocq, while the Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham is the head of government. The current monarch and head of state is King Charles III.
Philippe de Carteret II, 3rd Seigneur of Sark was the son of Philippe de Carteret I (1552–1594) and Rachel Paulett (1564–1650), daughter of George Paulett (1534–1621) who was Bailiff of Jersey from 1583 to 1611, and his wife Elizabeth Perrin (1538–1615).
Philippe de Carteret I, 2nd Seigneur of Sark (1552–1594) was the Seigneur of Sark and Saint Ouen from 1578 to 1594.
Helier de Carteret was the first Seigneur of Sark, reigning from 1563 to 1578. He was the son of Édouard de Carteret, Seigneur of Saint Ouen, and grandson of Philip de Carteret, 8th Seigneur of St Ouen.
St Helier is the capital of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – and is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey. The town of St Helier is the largest settlement and only town of Jersey. The town consists of the built-up areas of St Helier, including First Tower, and parts of the parishes of St Saviour and St Clement, with further suburbs in surrounding parishes. The greater part of St Helier is rural.
The Bailiff is the chief justice in each of the Channel Island bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey, also serving as president of the legislature and having ceremonial and executive functions. Each bailiwick has possessed its own bailiff since the islands were divided into two jurisdictions in the 13th century. The bailiffs and deputy bailiffs are appointed by the Crown on the advice of the Secretary of State for Justice and may hold office until retirement age.
Sir Philip Martin Bailhache KC is a Jersey politician and lawyer who has served as a Deputy for St Clement since 2022 and the leader of the Jersey Liberal Conservatives party.
Mont Orgueil is a castle in Jersey that overlooks the harbour of Gorey; a port on the east coast of the Island. It is known as Gorey Castle by English-speakers, and the "Old Castle" by Jèrriais-speakers. The castle was first referred to as 'Mont Orgeuil' in an ordnance survey made in 1462, when the castle was under French occupation in the late Middle Ages. The castle was the seat of royal authority on Jersey throughout the medieval period and served as the main fortress on the Island until the construction of Elizabeth Castle in 1594. It is classified as a Grade I listed building.
The States Assembly is the parliament of Jersey, formed of the island's 37 deputies and the Connétable of each of the twelve parishes.
The law of Jersey has been influenced by several different legal traditions, in particular Norman customary law, English common law and modern French civil law. The Bailiwick of Jersey is a separate jurisdiction from that of the United Kingdom, and is also distinct from that of the other Channel Islands such as Guernsey, although they do share some historical developments. Jersey's legal system is 'mixed' or 'pluralistic', and sources of law are in French and English languages, although since the 1950s the main working language of the legal system is English.
Sir Hugh Vaughan was born in Wales as a commoner to unknown parents, who later became Governor of Jersey.
Between 1642 and 1651 the Channel Islands were involved in an eleven-year-long, wide-scale armed conflict known as the English Civil War, between the Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of England's government and the amount of power the monarch should be able to wield.
Elias Dumaresq, 5th Seigneur of Augres was born in 1674 and was a Seigneur of Augres located in the parish of Trinity, Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands, He belonged to the influential Dumaresq family.
George Paulett (1534-1621) was Bailiff of Jersey multiple times during a period from 1583 to 1611 and was temporary Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey.
The Bailiwick of Jersey has an unwritten constitution arising from the Treaty of Paris (1259). When Henry III and the King of France came to terms over the Duchy of Normandy, the Norman mainland the suzerainty of the King of France. The Channel Islands however remained loyal to the British crown due to the loyalties of its Seigneurs. But they were never absorbed into the Kingdom of England by any Act of Union and exist as "peculiars of the Crown".
The Corn Riots, also known as the Jersey Revolution, was a revolt which took place in Jersey on 28 September 1769. In an example of direct action against government oppression, under the government of Lieutenant Bailiff Charles Lemprière, hundreds of Jerseymen marched from the north of the island to the south and occupied the Royal Court. The revolt is a significant point in Jersey political history, as the powers of legislation were removed from the Royal Court and placed in the States Assembly.
References
1 2 Heath, Richard (17 October 2019). "New Bailiff sworn in". www.jerseyeveningpost.com. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
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