IT is unlikely that Jersey will see many more public servants like Philip Bailhache, who retires as Bailiff today.

As he steps down after 14 years as Jersey’s chief citizen, President of the States and head of the judiciary, Sir Philip may take fully justified pride in his achievements on behalf of the Island he so clearly loves.

Born into an old Jersey family with a long tradition of public service, he became first a young parish Deputy and then Solicitor General and
Attorney-General before achieving Jersey’s highest office, but it is fair to say that it has been in that last role that he has most effectively made his mark.

It is likely, in fact, that the full significance of Sir Philip’s tenure will not be felt or fully appreciated for some time to come, because some of his most important work has been in the nature of sowing seeds and laying foundations.

The Bailiff’s dual role in the courts and the States will no doubt remain a source of controversy. However the day-to-day details are eventually resolved, though, it will be part of Sir Philip’s legacy to have reasserted in a scholarly, systematic and diplomatic fashion that Jersey’s constitutional right to govern itself independently as a proud small nation under the Crown, as well as the economic prosperity that has flowed from that right, rest ultimately on the time-tested legal foundations built over centuries by the Royal Court from a unique Anglo-Norman mixture of common and statute law.

His creation of the Jersey Legal Information Service, enhanced by his editorship of the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review and soon to be underpinned by his work in establishing an Institute of Jersey Law, may seem dry and arcane to some, but the value to Jersey’s future is incalculable.

In addition, Sir Philip has been a steadfast champion of the Island’s heritage, taking every opportunity to honour the uniqueness of our ancient institutions and customs while also being the first to insist that they must be adapted to the needs of a caring and inclusive society.

A modest man of high principle, he has in the process articulated true community values far more eloquently than most politicians of his era, providing clear and sometimes inspiring leadership without compromising the dignity of his office – an achievement in itself in such changing and challenging times.

Jersey has many reasons to be grateful to its outgoing Bailiff, who has also consistently encouraged its necessary quest for a new place in the wider world as a mature, independent, outward-looking jurisdiction, and there is little doubt that, after a due pause for relaxation, he will find some new channel for his public-spirited instincts.

Meanwhile, as statesman, advocate, jurist, patron of the arts and defender of the Jersey heritage, Sir Philip has most richly earned the gratitude and congratulations of his fellow Islanders as he embarks on what we trust will be a happy and fulfilling new chapter.