An Introduction to the
Administration of Law in Jersey
by Advocate Peter Harris of Crills
A brief guide to who's who and what's what.
Please note. This guide is no more than, and is not
intended to be anything more than, exactly that, a brief guide.
It does not give legal advice and is for information only.
Specific legal advice should be taken in relation to any
particular matter.
Jersey
Jersey is a dependency of the British Crown and has
for many centuries enjoyed privileges resulting from that
position. It has it own parliament (the States), its own
laws and its own Courts. Jersey lawyers are either Advocates, who
are qualified to appear in all Jersey Courts, or Solicitors (also
sometimes referred to as Ecrivains) who have more limited rights
of audience but otherwise have a similar role. All are members of
the Jersey Law Society and, except for the most senior members,
most will have qualified in England prior to re-qualification in
Jersey.
The Judiciary
The head of the judiciary is the Bailiff, presently Sir Philip
Bailhache, who is also the President of the States. He has a
Deputy, at present Mr Francis Hamon, and they are assisted by
part-time judges known as Commissioners. There are also
Lieutenant Bailiffs appointed by the Bailiff personally. The
Police Court is presided over by a Magistrate and Assistant
Magistrate, together with several part-time Relief Magistrates as
necessary. Certain officers of the Judicial Greffe sit in a
judicial capacity for some matters and the Viscount sits in a
quasi-judicial capacity on occasions.
The Crown Officers
The Attorney-General and Solicitor-General are Crown
appointees who represent the Crown and the States in all matters,
civil and criminal. For some matters they are assisted by Crown
Advocates, who may be members of the Attorney-General's staff or
appointed from private practice on a continuing basis or,
occasionally, for a single case.
The Courts
The Royal Court is the principal Court in the Island, exercising
a civil and criminal jurisdiction. The Court is presided over by
the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff or Commissioner, or on rare occasions
by a Lieutenant Bailiff. It hears civil and criminal trials,
which in the latter case may be with or without a jury depending
on the offence charged, and deals with appeals and other points
referred to it from the lower Courts. There are four Divisions of
the Royal Court, namely Samedi, Heritage, Family and Probate.
Appeal from the Royal Court may lie to the Jersey Court of
Appeal, and in a few very exceptional cases to the Privy Council.
The Police Court deals with most criminal cases at first instance
and the Petty Debts Court with small civil claims and a number of
specific civil matters. The Judicial Greffier or one of his
Deputies can hear certain applications by summons in civil and
family matters.
Legislation
The States of Jersey legislates primarily by way of Laws, with
subordinate legislation taking the form of Regulations and
Orders. The Laws form part of the Recueil des Lois, dating from
the Code of 1771, with the Regulations and Orders published
together as a separate series.
Legislative Sovereignty
As a matter of strict law it is generally accepted that the UK
Parliament can legislate for Jersey but in practice no laws are
imposed against the wishes of the States. The relationship of
Jersey and the UK was considered in depth at the time of the UK
joining the European Community and, as a result of negotiations,
the relationship of Jersey and the EC was set out in Protocol
(No. 3) attached to the Treaty of Accession of the UK.
Law reports
Judgments of the Royal Court are recorded in the Public
Registry and, from 1885 to 1978 they were indexed in the Tables
des Décisions. These gave a very brief synopsis of the pertinent
points but do not provide a report in the true sense. The first
formal law reports were the Jersey Judgments which ran from 1950
to 1984, when they were superseded by the Jersey Law Reports, a
professionally produced series of reports published in England.
The most current reports are those of the Unreported series
produced by the Judicial Greffe, generally within a month of the
decision.
Legal Aid
The Legal Aid system in Jersey is unusual in that it is
administered and financed by practising lawyers. The senior
Advocate, the Batonnier, is responsible for over-viewing the
conduct of all Advocates and, by default it seems, has assumed a
supervisory role over Solicitors as well, so far as Legal Aid is
concerned. The day-to-day running of the system is delegated to
the Acting-Batonnier who receives applications for legal aid and
appoints a lawyer on a rota basis. By custom and practice all
Jersey lawyers are on the rota, the Tour de Role, for fifteen
years after qualification. As a general rule they do not receive
any payment for their services other than what the client can
afford. The very nature of the system means that this is likely
to be very little or nothing at all. At present the
Acting-Batonnier is Advocate Steven Slater and he will receive
personal applications for legal aid at 14 Hill Street, St Helier,
Jersey between 8.30 and 9.30 every weekday morning.
The Law Society
If you wish to contact the Law Society you should write to the
secretary, Advocate David Le Quesne, at 7 Duhamel Place, St
Helier, Jersey.
Further Information
Information Technology - if you wish to view a short paper
regarding Jersey aspects of the law relating to everyday use of
information technology please look here.
Year 2000 Compliance - an appraisal may be
found here.
You may also wish to look at Offshore
Financial World (Jersey),
which has information relating to the offshore business
generally, including a directory of relevant professionals.
Legal Research
If
you wish to have information about legal matters outside of
Jersey then the following sites may prove of some interest. There
are many more, but I have been selective. I have had no
involvement in their creation and, accordingly, cannot vouch for
their accuracy.
A Guide
for lawyers by Delia Venables, an independent computer
consultant.
Here is a list of firms of
Solicitors on the World Wide Web also prepared by Delia
Venables.
A legal Search Engine and other resources may be found at Findlaw
An index of International Lawyers may be found at Globalaw
I hope that this page has been of some use and interest and
would be pleased to receive your feedback, or answer any
questions, either to
Peter Harris
at home
at the office
(Crills) http://www.crills.com
Last updated 20th April 1997