|
|
|
This article from
|
|
Prince of pleas
The Channel Islands are the only place where this Norman custom of crying for justice still survives.
‘Haro! Haro! Haro! a l'aide, mon prince, on me fait tort,' are not words heard often in Jersey.
But they could be. And if they were, they could have serious implications for the person they were directed at – that is, once they have figured out what their apparently crazed neighbour is doing sat there on their knees, yelling, in French, for a prince.
The Clameur de Haro is the ancient Norman custom of crying for justice and the Channel Islands is the only place where it still survives.
If an Islander feels their property is being physically threatened they may go along to the site with two witnesses, take off their hat, fall to their knees and cry to their Duke for justice. Once that has been done, and the court notified within 24 hours, their appeal has to be respected and the alleged trespass or tort must stop until the matter has been sorted out in court.
The cry acts as a kind of interim injunction and there is no way the accused wrong-doer can resist it. He has to face court no matter what his excuse or bemusement may be, because the Clameur De Haro is still firmly laid out in Jersey law.
It is an ancient custom dating from a time when there was apparently no court and no justice except that dealt out by princes personally. But no one knows where the law really comes from.
It has been said that the term ‘haro' is an abbreviation of ‘Ha! Rollo' – a direct appeal to Rollo, first Duke of Normandy. The idea is that Viking laws were enacted in the Islands and the Clameur was among them.
But it is more probable that haro was simply a way of getting peoples' attention. Like help. When anyone heard it they were expected to run to the rescue.
Originally the Clameur was used for criminal matters like theft or assault. But as the centuries passed and the administration of justice became increasingly systematic it became obsolete in those kinds of cases.
However, in cases of interference with houses, buildings or land, the Clameur still counted. It was retained in north-western France for a long time in cases of disputed possession and was not repealed until the close of the 18th century, but in Jersey it never disappeared.
One of the most recent Jersey Clameurs was raised in the 1980s when Wayne Le Marquand tried to demolish a bank in a field owned by George de Carteret. Mr Le Marquand brought a digger into the field on 8 July 1988 and by 23 August found himself before the Royal Court, paying £10 as an amende de Clameur de Haro and contributing £500 to the Crown to cover the costs of the Clameur. There has only been one Clameur cried since, but its caller failed to study the rules before yelling.
On 25 November 1994 John Barker raised the Clameur de Haro against his younger brother James in the Royal Square – a grave error, which could have led to him being fined. Instead, it just led to the whole thing being ignored because the Clameur had not been properly invoked and had fallen on deaf ears.
So be warned. Since the Clameur is not so well used these days, it is easy to get it wrong. And never raise a Clameur lightly. If you lose and it turns out your neighbour was well within his rights to topple that tree, you will be the one meeting the costs of calling the Clameur in the Court.
This article updated: April 2004
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| ......Daily Ditons...... |
Quand nou-s-a bu la methe (du cidre) nou-s-a trejous se.
When you’ve drunk ropey cider you’re always thirsty.
|
|
|
