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The States of Alderney (French: ''États d'Aurigny'') is the parliament/council and the
legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...
of
Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependencies, Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making i ...
, part of the
Bailiwick of Guernsey The Bailiwick of Guernsey (french: Bailliage de Guernesey; Guernésiais: ''Bailliage dé Guernési'') is an island country off the coast of France as one of the three Crown Dependencies. Separated from the Duchy of Normandy by and under t ...
. The origin of the States is unknown, but has operated from the medieval period. The States of Alderney comprises ten
Members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...
, and a President of the States of Alderney, currently William Tate who was elected in 2019 to replace
Stuart Trought Walter Stuart Trought MBE is the former President of the States of Alderney. Elected on 11 June 2011 to replace Sir Norman Browse on a turnout of 65% on 31 December 2012, he was re-elected unopposed in 2016 to serve until 31 December 2020. On 12 ...
who retired after eight years of presidency.


Structure

The States of Alderney includes ten members elected for four years terms, with half of the members having to stand for election every two years so that the entire parliament is changed over a period of four years. There is also a president who must stand for election every four years, although there is no constitutional limit on the number of terms he may serve. Routine government is performed by three committees, ''Policy and Finance'', ''General Services'', and ''Building and Development Control'', each of which works under a different mandate and has a separate budget. Extra committees are usually formed in order to deal with specific areas of policy, such as the ''
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights. In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head ...
Management Committee''. In addition, two members of the States are nominated as representatives to the Guernsey States of Deliberation.


Legal status

The island is a self-governing Crown Dependency, part of the
Bailiwick of Guernsey The Bailiwick of Guernsey (french: Bailliage de Guernesey; Guernésiais: ''Bailliage dé Guernési'') is an island country off the coast of France as one of the three Crown Dependencies. Separated from the Duchy of Normandy by and under t ...
since Elizabethan times. Certain services, known as 'transferred services' are provided in Alderney by the Guernsey Government under an agreement entered into between the States of Alderney and the States of Guernsey in 1948 ('the 1948 Agreement').
Defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...
and
foreign policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...
are reserved to the Crown, which in modern constitutional terms means the relevant
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
government departments (the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...
and the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...
. The UK liaises with Alderney (as with all Crown Dependencies), through the
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Justi ...
. Formally, ultimate legislative, executive and judicial authority continues to vest in the
Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...
which approves all primary legislation passed by the States of Alderney, and through its Judicial Committee, is its highest court of appeal. By constitutional convention, the
British Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
does not involve itself directly in Alderney domestic government, although it retains a theoretical ability to do so if 'good government' is at risk. (There is an analogous power in respect of the
British Overseas Territories The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remnants of the former Bri ...
which has been exercised in recent years, in order to deal with systemic
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
in the
Turks and Caicos The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and n ...
Islands.)


Elections

The President of the States of Alderney is directly elected every four years. Half of the ten States Members are elected every two years for a four-year mandate, which means that every four years the composition of the parliament changes completely. The election held on 6 December 2008 had a turnout of over 700 people produced a frequency of 65.6%. The whole island is a single constituency. The current members were elected in the elections of 2020 and elections of 2022 They are:


History

Although the origins of the States of Alderney are unknown, it has functioned since the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, making it one of the world's oldest parliaments. Less than 50% of Alderney's population had returned to the island after World War II. This led to the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
discussing what to do with Alderney as land ownership markers and official papers had been destroyed in the war and Alderney's economy was stagnating as a result of more than half of the islanders not returning. The United Kingdom's
Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...
, Chuter Ede recommended "
Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...
fication" of Alderney. In 1948 His Majesty's Privy Council decided that Alderney would become a part of the
Bailiwick of Guernsey The Bailiwick of Guernsey (french: Bailliage de Guernesey; Guernésiais: ''Bailliage dé Guernési'') is an island country off the coast of France as one of the three Crown Dependencies. Separated from the Duchy of Normandy by and under t ...
again. Later in the year, both the States of Alderney and the
States of Guernsey The States of Guernsey (french: États de Guernesey), sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guer ...
voted through the Alderney (Application of Legislation) Law which gave powers to the States of Guernsey in respect of certain "transferred services" in 1949. The law also provided for a democratically elected President of the States of Alderney to be the Leader of Alderney as the Judge of Alderney had been superseded as the representative of the Crown on Alderney by the
Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey The Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey is the representative of the British monarch in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown dependency of the British Crown. The role of the Lieutenant Governor is to act as the ''de facto'' head of state in Guernsey ...
.


References


External links

*
Hansard for 2020
{{British Isles Alderney
Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependencies, Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making i ...
Politics of Alderney