Senators? Exactly what has Sarah Ferguson become?

Sunday 11 September 2016

Senators, Connetables, Jurats, Greffiers, Viscounts, Deputies. States of Jersey. What on earth is this all about?

In fact, our newly elected Senator, Sarah Ferguson is a relative arriviste to the world of Jersey politics as the position was only created in 1948.

Constitutional reform happens with glacial speed in the Island, but three years after the occupation and Second World War, there was a move to strengthen the separation between the judiciary and the legislature, thus Jurats, who were back then the top dogs in Jersey politics, were replaced by Senators. 

In fact, so top and doggish were they that Jurats were elected for life by the whole of the Island. They bossed all the committees and even sat in the Royal Court. 

Three years after the war it was decided to do away with Jurats hogging the show, so they were replaced by Senators in the legislature, who were initially elected for a period of nine years.   

Senator Ferguson would normally get a six-year stint in office, but as this was a by-election, caused by the resignation of Zoe Cameron, she will actually only serve 20 months before she has to stand for re-election. 

Fascinating stuff if you are a historian, but mind-bogglingly complex if you are not. 

Of course politics in Jersey goes back way beyond 1948. The big date is 1204, when King John, almost universally despised for his despotic rule by all but grateful Channel Islanders, granted a system of self-government to Jersey in that year. 

Eleven years later the King was to get his comeuppance as the Barons and Lords of the mainland foisted Magna Carta on him, the first time the power of the crown had been limited by the landed gentry.

From 1204 the law-making power was in the hands of the Royal Court, but in 1771 all that changed as the States of Jersey took over the legislature. 

It’s composition has changed over the years, but nowadays there are eight Senators, 29 Deputies and 12 Constables, with only the Senators elected on an island-wide basis. 

There are also five non-voting members appointed by the crown, the Bailiff, the Lieutenant-Governor, the Dean, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General, while the clerk of the assembly is the Greffier.

Those who like their tradition will be pleased to know that an attempt was made a decade ago to get rid of all this folly and replace the Senators, Constables and Deputies with a single title of Member of the States of Jersey. 

Suffice to say Sir Cecil Clothier’s proposals fell on cloth ears, although the system of Ministers in charge of various departments (eg social security, tourism, education etc) was introduced in an amended form.

So Senator Ferguson can now take her place to the left of the Bailiff, whose seat is raised slightly higher than the Lieutenant-Governor to underline his precedence. 

All bewildering stuff to the uninitiated, but Senator Ferguson is only the latest in a long, long line which stretches back to the start of the 13th century.