Bailiff to remain as head of States and Courts

Tuesday 15 November 2016

States members have rejected ending the Bailiff’s dual role as head of the legislature, and the judiciary, by 31-13 votes.

Deputy Montfort Tadier wanted the Bailiff to continue as the civic head in the Island, but for his colleagues to elect a speaker for the States Assembly instead by January 2018.

Deputy Tadier said: “It is natural that we want to show respect to our civic head, but the fact that he is also automatically the president of our assembly is bizarre and is not acceptable in many ways, both in principle, but also in practical terms, as it affects the time he can spend in court, meaning we have to bring over Commissioners from the UK at great expense.

“I think there is a sense in which we are doing ourselves a disservice because it shows that this assembly does not have the self-confidence which other assemblies have who are the sovereign parliaments of their own jurisdictions.

“We would not accept or want an elected politician to act as a judge in court, as that would be highly bizarre. We must accept the fact it cannot be right for the officer of the court and in this case the chief justice, to have a role in the legislature. That is what it boils down to. It is down to principle.”

Deputy Kevin Lewis disagreed with the proposal, saying: "I went to a conference recently in London and I described our parliament and explained how the chair worked. They were fascinated in the way we run our assembly and the biggest thing that struck them was the absence of party politics. One member did say to me the speaker must be truly independent. Their interest in our chair being very different to others was how independent it appears and I would much rather have a true professional than a rank amateur sitting in the chair.

"I would not like a member of this assembly, with constituency responsibilities, to be all-consumed by the work of a genuine speaker of the house."

But Deputies Judy Martin and Sam Mezec both backed Deputy Tadier, the former saying: "The current system is not right. On balance I am going to back the Deputy."

Deputy Mezec said: "What is there now is simply incompatible with democracy. It makes us look dodgy. It is just not squeaky clean."  

Deputy Tadier finished the debate saying: "The principle is so important. This is a new dawn for our assembly and change is going to come. I hope we can get behind this and we will all know how it works. It is not rocket science. It needs to be done."

State members voted earlier this evening, and rejected the proposal by a significant margin, 31 votes to 13.