The Administration of the Bailiwick of Guernsey
| Published date | 01 January 1969 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1099-162X.1969.tb00356.x |
| Date | 01 January 1969 |
The Administration of the Bailiwick
of Guernsey
By JAMES SLEATOR
Mr. Sleator is Senior Legal Draftsman, Guernsey.
IT is perhaps a pity that the islandsof the archipelago which liesto the west
of the Cotentin peninsula are so frequently referred to collectively as the
Channel Islands because that may suggest to those who are unfamiliar with
the Islands that they constitute a political as well as a geographical unit.
The contrary is the case because for the purposes of government they are
divided into two quite separate Bailiwicks; the Bailiwick of Jersey and the
Bailiwick of Guernsey.
It
is only with the latter Bailiwick, consisting of the
Island of Guernsey (including Herm and Jethou) and the Islandsof Alderney
and Sark, that this paper is concerned.
It
is desirable, before considering the details of the present system of
administration in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, to say something of the
constitutional position of the Channel Islands in relation to the United
Kingdom and the remainder of the Commonwealth.
The
Channel Islands
are not conquered or ceded territories, they are not part of the United
Kingdom (though, as we shall see, some Acts of Parliament do apply to
them) and their constitutions are not an experiment in devolution as in the
case of Northern Ireland but are of indigenous growth. From the time of
Rollo at any rate, the Islands were a parcel of the Duchy of Normandy of
which Rollo was the first Duke. When William, Duke of Normandy,
became King of England in 1066, the Islands as part of the Duchy became
associated with the realm of England in the person of the Duke only, a
position similar to that of Gascony until 1453. When continental Normandy
was lost to the English Crown by annexation by Philip Augustus in 1204 the
Islands did not then, or later, becomepart of the realm of England but went
on to achieve local self government and separate administrations. Indeed
even today the Islands' link with the United Kingdom and with the Common-
wealth is through the Sovereign as the latter day successor to the Dukes of
Normandy.
The Islands are to all intents and purposes self governing but though they
have achieved a degree of independence far greater than that of a colony,
they have never achieved Dominion status; Her Majesty's Government is
still responsible, after consultation, for their external affairs. They may best
be described as appanages of the Crown, a description which accords with
the facts of history.
This paper is entitled
"The
Administration of the Bailiwick of Guernsey"
and that compels me to define my terms. I propose to adopt Finer's I
definition of administration as being "the governmental machine by which
1H. Finer, The Theory and Practice
of
Modern Government, Methuen, 1961.
5
B
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