This Is Jersey

Timeframe for an Island constitution

1066
Jersey becomes an English possession because it is part of Normandy, the domain of William the Conqueror, invader and subsequently King of England.

1204
King John loses the castle at Rouen to the French, which means that Normandy becomes part of France. The Channel Islands, however, remain with England. In return for its loyalty, Jersey is granted rights and privileges by King John and his successors. One is to be governed by laws already in place. Another, crucially, is to tax its own people, rather than be taxed by England. King John does not absorb Jersey and Guernsey into the English realm, instead appointing a warden for each Island. Jersey is also directed to choose 12 of its best men to be sworn in to administer justice. The office of warden eventually becomes the office of Bailiff and the 12 justices are called Jurats.

1524
The first official mention of Les Etats – the States. Develops as an advisory body to the Royal Court. The assembly consists of the 12 Constables and 12 Jurats, and later, the Island’s 12 Rectors.

Mont Orgueil is a lasting reminder of the Island’s history and links with Britain

1618
There is a dispute about the primacy of the Governor, representing the Crown, and the Bailiff, appointed by England but effectively Jersey’s first citizen. The Privy Council is called to intervene. It rules that the Bailiff’s powers have precedence.

1771
Under the Code of 1771 the States are designated the legislative body and separate from the Royal Court, though the Bailiff remains president of the States and the Island’s principal judge.

1860
After years of pressure from Abraham Le Cras, an Englishman of Jersey descent, a UK commission suggests various reforms of the police and judiciary, including the establishment of the Police Court, which later becomes the Magistrate’s Court. There is resistance from States and attempts to impose reforms through the UK Parliament are thwarted. Watered-down reforms are eventually initiated and passed by the States.

1920
In the aftermath of the First World War there is a clash about a Jersey contribution to British defence costs. This is resisted on the strength of Jersey’s fiscal autonomy. The contribution is seen as a tax by a government in which Jersey has no representation. Eventually, a single ‘voluntary’ payment of £300,000 is made.

1946
A Royal Commission comes to Jersey to review its government and court system. Jurats and Rectors are removed from the States. Elected Senators and additional Deputies are introduced. The roles of the Constables and the Bailiff are untouched.

1947
The application of the Civil Aviation Act, outlawing privately owned airlines, is reluctantly accepted by States.

1951
The UK clarifies the application of international agreements to the Island to ensure greater consultation and to avoid imposition of such agreements without consent.

1953
Jersey and the UK contest the ownership of the Minquiers and the Ecréhous with France. International adjudication decides that the reefs belong to Britain but are to be administered by Jersey.

1969
The Kilbrandon report concludes that the UK Parliament can legislate for the Channel Islands, but that it should think very carefully before doing so. ‘Our own conclusion, therefore, is that in the eyes of the courts parliament has a paramount power to legislate for the islands in any circumstances, and we have proceeded on this assumption. This does not, of course, mean that parliament should be any more ready than in the past to interfere in the islands’ domestic affairs and any less mindful of the need to preserve their autonomy. On the contrary, in the changed international situation greater vigilance may be needed. But if, exceptionally, circumstances should demand the application to the islands without their consent of measures of a kind hitherto regarded as domestic, then Parliament would, in our view, have the power to enact the necessary legislation.’

1997
Labour are elected and Jack Straw is appointed Home Secretary. One of his first acts is to send Andrew Edwards to carry out a report into the regulation of the finance industries of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. The Edwards Report is broadly positive about the industry in Jersey.

2000
Home Secretary Jack Straw refuses to refer the Jersey Finance Law to the Privy Council because of dispute about ‘designer taxes’. Jersey says either refer the law for assent or end up in court. The law goes to the Privy Council and receives assent.

2000-02
An EU committee, Ecofin, is set up in 2000 to look into tax systems in jurisdictions worldwide. At its head is Labour MP Dawn Primorolo. Ecofin decide that there are a number of features of Jersey’s tax system that are unfair. They give Jersey a deadline to comply with rules, doing away with exempt companies, which are the bedrock of the Island’s financial services industry. Prime Minister Tony Blair visits the Island for a British-Irish Council meeting. He assures Policy and Resources president Senator Pierre Horsfall that he will ‘not leave Jersey like a coal-mining town without a coalmine’. The deadline for compliance with the Ecofin rules is extended from 18 months to six years, paving the way for the zero-ten tax system.

2007
Jersey’s Chief Minister, Frank Walker, and the UK Lord Chancellor sign an agreement to established a framework for the development of the international identity of Jersey. It loosely commits the UK to not meddling in Jersey affairs.

2008
The Constitution Review Group, chaired by the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, produces an interim report which makes it clear that there would be few obstacles to Jersey pursuing a path towards independence, although the model suggested would retain the Queen as Head of State.

Constitution Review Group is chaired by the Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache