 |
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
 |
|||||||||||
Background to the Channel Islands
The Channel Islands were part of the Duchy of Normandy from 933 AD. In 1066, England and Normandy were united under the English crown and the Channel Islands have remained under English sovereignty ever since. In 1204 King John of England lost all of his mainland French Norman provinces but the Channel Islanders opted to remain loyal to the English Crown. In return, the King agreed by Royal Warrant that the Islands would remain governed by the Monarch himself or herself, although in practice the Monarch appointed a Lieutenant Governor to rule. Over the passage of time the Islands have become self governing and democratic, but the Monarch still appoints a Lieutenant Governor to Jersey and Guernsey. |
 |
Today the Islands are Crown Dependencies and it is an established constitutional convention that the United Kingdom parliament does not introduce domestic legislation (including taxation) to the Islands without the consent of the island governments.
However Jersey has committed itself to numerous international agreements and has therefore undertaken to introduce the relevant legislation (eg Human Rights Legislation).
|
