Jersey Law 2/1951
ROYAL COURT (AMENDMENT) (JERSEY) LAW, 1951
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A LAW to
amend the Royal Court (Jersey) Law, 1948, sanctioned by Order of His Majesty in
Council of the
29th day of JANUARY, 1951.
(Registered on the 10th day of February, 1951).
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STATES OF JERSEY.
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The 31st day of
October, 1950.
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THE STATES, subject to the sanction of
His Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have adopted the following Law: -
ARTICLE I
(1) For
Article 5 of the Royal Court (Jersey) Law, 1948,
(hereinafter referred to as “the principal Law”) there shall be
substituted the following Article :
-
“ARTICLE
5
APPOINTMENT OF JURATS
(1) There
shall be an Electoral College for the purpose of the appointment of Jurats.
(2) The
Electoral College shall consist of –
(a) the Bailiff, who shall
be its president;
(b) the
Jurats;
(c) the
Constables of the twelve parishes of the Island;
(d) the
elected members of the States;
(e) members
of the Jersey Bar, admitted not less than seven years before the meeting of the
Electoral College, who have renewed their oath of Advocate within the seven
months preceding the meeting of the Electoral College; and
(f) Solicitors
(“Ecrivains”) of the Royal Court admitted
not less than seven years before the meeting of the Electoral College:
Provided that a member of the Bar or a Solicitor shall cease to be
a member of the Electoral College from the day upon which he undertakes wholetime service in any office or employment in respect of
which he is entitled to receive remuneration from the Crown or from the States
or from any parochial authority:
Provided also that a Solicitor shall cease to be a member of the
Electoral College from the day upon which there has been lodged with the
Bailiff a certificate signed by the President and the Secretary of the
“Chambre des Ecrivains” to the effect
that such Solicitor has ceased, for any reason whatsoever, to practise or to be legally entitled to practise
as a Solicitor of the Royal Court.
(3) The
Lieutenant Governor, the Dean, His Majesty’s Attorney General and His
Majesty’s Solicitor General shall be members of the Electoral College
but, as such, shall not be entitled to vote nor to propose or second a
candidate for appointment as Jurat.
(4) The
Viscount, the Judicial Greffier and the Greffier of the States jointly shall at all times maintain
a register of the names and addresses of the members for the time being of the
Electoral College, and a copy of such register, signed by the Viscount, the
Judicial Greffier and the Greffier
of the States, shall at all times be exhibited in the Vestibule of the Royal
Court House.
(5) Subject
to the following provisions of this Article, a person shall be appointed to the
office of Jurat –
(a) where his nomination to
that office is proposed by one member, and seconded by another member, of the
Electoral College, in the form set out in the First Schedule to this Law ; and
(b) if there are more
candidates duly nominated than there are vacancies to be filled, where he is
elected to that office by the Electoral College.
(6) Within
fourteen days after the day on which it comes to the notice of the Bailiff that
a vacancy has occurred from any cause whatsoever, among the Jurats,
he shall give notice of the vacancy to the members for the time being of the
Electoral College.
(7) Notice
of a vacancy among the Jurats shall, on the written
instructions of the Bailiff, be delivered by the Viscount to every member for
the time being of the Electoral College and such notice shall specify the
latest date (being a date not less than ten days, and not more than fourteen
days, from the date of the notice, as may be specified therein) by which
nominations of candidates for the vacancy are to be received by the Bailiff.
(8) Where
there are only as many candidates nominated as there are vacancies to be
filled, the person or persons so nominated shall be duly appointed to the
office of Jurat and the Bailiff shall take the
necessary steps for such person or persons to take the oath of office of Jurat in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (27)
of this Article.
(9) Where
there are more candidates duly nominated than there are vacancies to be filled,
the Bailiff shall summon a meeting of the Electoral College for a day not later
than the fourteenth day after the last day for the receipt of nominations.
(10) A
summons to attend a meeting of the Electoral College shall, on the written
instructions of the Bailiff, be delivered by the Viscount to every member for
the time being of the Electoral College, four days at least before the day for
which the meeting is summoned.
(11) The
summons shall contain particulars of –
(a) the day upon which, and
the hour and place at which, the meeting is to be held ;
(b) the purpose for which
the meeting is being summoned ; and
(c) the particulars
relating to the candidates nominated as set out in the forms of nomination,
together with the names of their proposers and seconders.
(12) A
notice containing the particulars specified in paragraph (11) of this Article
shall be published by the Greffier of the States in
two newspapers circulating in the Island, one being a publication in French and
the other a publication in English, four days at least before the meeting of
the Electoral College.
(13) Subject
to the provisions of paragraph (20) of this Article, every member of the
Electoral College shall be entitled to address the meeting.
(14) The
meeting shall be held in public, but the vote shall be secret.
(15) Subject
to the provisions of paragraph (3) of this Article, every member of the
Electoral College shall be entitled to as many votes as there are vacancies to
be filled :
Provided that –
(a) a person who is a
member of the Electoral College by virtue of more than one capacity shall not
be entitled to vote in more than one capacity ;
(b) no person shall cast
more than one vote for the same candidate ; and
(c) the Bailiff shall only
vote in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (19) of this Article.
(16) The
Bailiff shall examine the voting papers and shall forthwith, in the presence of
the members of the Electoral College and of the public present at the meeting,
declare the result of the ballot.
(17) If
the ballot results in an equal number of votes being cast in favour of two or more candidates, the Bailiff, after
declaring the appointment of such candidate or candidates as shall have
obtained a clear majority or clear majorities, shall call upon the members of
the Electoral College to vote again :
Provided that the second ballot shall be with respect only to those
candidates the obtaining by whom of an equal number of votes has resulted in a
tie for a vacancy or vacancies to which no appointment has been declared by the
Bailiff in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this paragraph.
(18) The
Bailiff shall examine the voting papers and shall forthwith, in the presence of
the members of the Electoral College and of the public present at the meeting,
declare the result of the second ballot.
(19) If
the result of the second ballot is inconclusive, the Bailiff shall vote and,
having voted, shall declare the final result of the ballot.
(20) No
business other than the election of a Jurat or of Jurats shall, under any pretext whatsoever, be conducted at
a meeting of the Electoral College.
(21) The
quorum of the Electoral College shall be forty.
(22) If,
twenty minutes after the time for which the meeting has been summoned, there is
no quorum, the Bailiff shall adjourn the meeting for not more than ten days.
(23) The
Viscount shall, on the written instructions of the Bailiff, serve upon every
member for the time being of the Electoral College (whether or not he was
present at the first meeting) a new summons which shall, “mutatis mutandis”,
contain particulars similar to those required by paragraph 11) of this Article
to be contained in a summons and shall be served in the manner prescribed by
that paragraph.
(24) The
Greffier of the States shall cause new notices which
shall, “mutatis mutandis”,
contain particulars similar to those required by paragraph (12) of this Article
to be contained in a press notice to be published in the newspapers and in the
manner prescribed by that paragraph.
(25) The
members of the Electoral College, being duly assembled in adjourned meeting,
shall proceed with the election of a Jurat or Jurats, whether a quorum be present or not, but, in all
other respects, shall proceed in accordance with the foregoing provisions of
this Article.
(26) The
Greffier of the States shall attend meetings of the
Electoral College, shall act as its Clerk and shall record its proceedings.
(27) The
Viscount shall, on the instructions of the Bailiff, warn the candidate or
candidates appointed to the office of Jurat to attend
before the Royal Court of Jersey, for the purpose of taking oath of office of Jurat, on the day appointed for the purpose by the Bailiff,
which day, however, shall not be less than four, nor more than ten, days after
the date of his appointment:
Provided that if a candidate appointed to the office of Jurat is prevented by illness from attending before the
Royal Court for the purpose of taking oath of office of Jurat
on the day appointed for the purpose by the Bailiff, such candidate shall be
permitted to take oath on such later date as may be appointed for the purpose
by the Superior Number of the Royal Court.
(28) Every
notice and summons to be delivered in pursuance of this Article shall be deemed
to have been duly delivered if it has been delivered by hand at, or addressed
through the post to, the address contained in the register mentioned in
paragraph (4) of this Article as being the address of the person to whom it is
to be so delivered or addressed.”
(2) For
Article 9 of the principal Law there
shall be substituted the following Article –
“ARTICLE
9
VOID APPOINTMENTS
If the appointment of a Jurat is declared
null and void by the Superior Number of the Royal Court under the provisions of
Article 7 or 8 of this Law, the Bailiff shall immediately take the necessary
steps with a view to the appointment of a Jurat in
place of the Jurat whose appointment has been
declared null and void as aforesaid.”
ARTICLE 2
For the First Schedule to the principal Law there
shall be substituted the Schedule to this Law.
ARTICLE 3
This Law may be cited as the Royal Court (Amendment) (Jersey) Law,
1951, and this Law and the principal Law may be cited together as the Royal
Court (Jersey) Laws, 1948 and 1951.
SCHEDULE
FIRST SCHEDULE
(Article 5(5))
ISLAND OF JERSEY
ROYAL COURT (JERSEY) LAW, 1948
FORM OF NOMINATION OF CANDIDATE FOR OFFICE OF JURAT
We, the undersigned, members of the Electoral College constituted
under the Royal Court (Jersey) Law, 1948, recommend the following person
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Name
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Christian Names
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Date of Birth
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Residence
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Occupation
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as a candidate for appointment to the office of Jurat of the Royal Court and we declare that, to the best
of our knowledge, information and belief, the said candidate –
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(a)
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is
qualified for appointment to the office of Jurat of
the Royal Court in accordance with the provisions of the said Law; and
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(b)
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is not
disqualified for appointment to the said office in accordance with the
provisions of the said Law or otherwise.
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This
day of
19
.
Signed........................................
Proposer.
Signed........................................
Seconder.
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To be printed, published and posted.
F. DE L. BOIS,
Greffier of the States.