Royal charters applying to the Channel Islands
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This is a list of charters promulgated by Monarchs of
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
that specifically relate to the islands of
Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
,
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 ...
,
Alderney Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...
or
Sark Sark (french: link=no, Sercq, ; Sercquiais: or ) is a part of the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a royal fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of l ...
which together form the
Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
, also known as the
Bailiwick of Jersey A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on the ...
and 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 the t ...
. Forming part of Brittany and then Normandy in the 10th and 11th centuries, the
Duke of Normandy In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western Kingdom of France, France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles the Simple, Charles III in ...
, in 1066, took the Crown of England. The physical location of the Channel Islands became important when the English Monarchs began to lose their French possessions and the islands became the front line in a series of wars with France that lasted for centuries. Loyalty to the English Crown was rewarded. The Charters are given in the form of
Letters patent Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...
being a form of open or public proclamation and generally conclude with: ''In cujus rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes. '' (in witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent.) The Charters being confirmed by the Council in Parliament, or by the
Parliament of England The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...
.


List

The legal materials are as follows: * GG – Charter held in Guernsey
Greffe A greffier is the clerk to a legislature or a court in some countries where French is, or used to be, the language of the legal system. The word greffe refers to the records kept by the greffier or the department of government under the greffier' ...


See also

*
Law of Guernsey The Law of Guernsey originates in Norman customary law, overlaid with principles taken from English common law and French law, as well as from statute law enacted by the competent legislature(s) – usually, but not always, the States of Guernsey ...
*
Law of Jersey The law of Jersey has been influenced by several different legal traditions, in particular Norman customary law, English common law and modern French civil law. and The Bailiwick of Jersey is a separate jurisdiction from that of the United Kingdo ...


Further reading

* Thornton, Tim. ''The Charters of Guernsey'' (Woodfield Publishing, 2004)


References

{{reflist Guernsey law History of Guernsey History of Jersey Jersey law Legal documents


External links


Side by side translations of the charters from Latin or Anglo-Norman French into English