Crown Dependencies: IALS Library Guides

Last updated: Laura Griffiths, May 2025

This guide covers the Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man, and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, three British offshore islands (or group of islands in the case of the Bailiwick of Guernsey) which, whilst being part of the British Isles, are self-governing separate jurisdictions and do NOT constitute part of the United Kingdom. They have their own directly elected legislative assemblies, administrative, legal and fiscal systems, and their own courts of law. None of them are represented in the United Kingdom Parliament in Westminster.

Whilst there are numerous historical and customary differences between the islands (particularly between the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks), they occupy broadly analogous positions, particularly concerning their relationship to the United Kingdom, and as such a treated together in this guide.

Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man have never been colonies of the UK - the relationship between the Crown Dependencies and the United Kingdom is entirely and solely through (as the name suggests) the Crown, in the person of the Monarch, who is Head of State in each of the islands. As with other countries where the King is head of state, he is personally represented in each dependency by a Lieutenant-Governor. This relationship is not enshrined in any constitutional document, but instead is the result, according the Ministry of Justice's Crown Dependencies branch, of historical processes and accepted practice.

The Channel Islands have had a constitutional relationship with Britain since 1204, when they became the only remaining parts of the former Duchy of Normandy under the control of the British Monarch, as enshrined in the Treaty of Paris in 1259. Indeed the King is informally known here as 'The Duke of Normandy' (as was the late Queen). The constitutional relationship between the Isle of Man and Britain dates back to the fourteenth century, with the Lordship of Man being formally revested (via an Act of Purchase) in the British Crown in 1765 after centuries of being passed about between the Scottish Crown, the British Crown, and various English noble families. As with the Bailiwicks, this did not alter the political identity of the Isle of Man, but rather caused the British monarch to be simultaneously and separately the Lord of Man.

The Crown Dependencies are not internationally recognised as Sovereign States in their own right, and as such are unable to enter into international agreements and treaties, instead negotiating to have the UK's ratification of such agreements as they wish to enter into to extend to them. By the same token, the UK is responsible, by convention, for the defence of the islands.

Recent years have, however, seen the Crown Dependencies entering into bilateral trade and tax agreements with other jurisdictions on their own behalf, a trend which is likely to increase in the coming years as they seek to develop their own 'international identities', in accordance with framework agreements developed between the islands and the Ministry of Justice back in the UK.

Prior to Brexit, their relationship with the EU was set out in the 1972 UK accession treaty, and the islands were part of the single market for trade and goods. Following the departure of the United Kingdon from the EU, crown dependencies relations with the EU are covered under the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

All three Crown Dependencies have an unwritten constitution, having been for the most part continuously governed in the same way for centuries. As with the United Kingdom, these constitutions are drawn from a variety of sources including statute law, case law and custom.

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The Isle of Man Parliament is called the High Court of Tynwald (commonly refered to as the Tynwald), which is composed of an upper house - the Legislative Council, and a Lower House - the House of Keys. The legal system of the Isle of Man is Manx customary law, a form of common law.

Manx legislation is arranged in the usual 2 tier system of Acts of Tynwald (primary legislation) and Statutory Documents (commonly orders and regulations made under the power of an Act of Tynwald). In any given year there will also be a small number of 'Order in Council' - a means of extending UK statute law to the Isle of Man - which are issued as UK statutory instruments and can be found on legislation.gov.uk.

IALS library has good hard copy coverage of Isle of Man legislation up to 2003. Thereafter, access is avaiable via the official Isle of Man legislation website, as discussed below. We hold yearly volumes of statutes, as passed, from 1948 - 2003, with the most recent revised compilation dating 2002 (further historical revisions exist, dating from 1996 and 1985). Anyone interested in historical legal research pertaining to the Isle of Man should note that we also hold a 21 volume collection of historical statutes from 1417 - 1970. There are also various indexes and tables for charting UK legislation with effects to the Isle of Man.

The Isle of Man legislation website is a fantastic free resource, allowing free public access to all Manx primary legislation. There are files of legislation (the Manx Legislation Newsletter), by year, from 1417 to present day, as well as all current, revised legislation arranged by title and by subject and historic consolidations. The site also contains links to all current Isle of Man Orders in Council on legislation.gov.uk, and to the Tynwald website which has a complete collection of statutory documents from 1993 onwards, with selected earlier coverage. The LexisLibrary database also carries the full, amended text of all public general Acts of the Tynwald that are currently in force.

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The Parliament in Jersey is called the States of Jersey, or States Assembly, a unicameral body containing both elected members and a small amount of non elected, non voting members appointed by the Crown, such as the Lieutenant Govenor. Jersey has a pluralistic, or mixed, legal system, having been influenced over time by successive legal systems including Norse customary law, English common law and French civil law.

Legislation is arranged in the usual 2 tier system, Laws/Lois (primary legislation), and Regulations or Orders. According to the website of the States Assembly: "(a)s a rule of thumb, orders tend to be concerned with administrative details such as setting levels of fees and fines, forms, and standards to be applied whereas regulations tend to be more concerned with policy issues for which a States decision is appropriate, such as the setting up of procedures and rules". As for the Isle of Man, Orders in Council can sometimes be used to extend UK statute law to Jersey (again, issued as UK statutory instruments).

IALS library has very good coverage of Jersey legislation, primary and secondary, both as passed and in consolidated format. The most recent consolidation, comprising all of the laws and subordinate legislation, together with certain Orders in Council and other legislation which were in force on January 1st 2012, is 27 volumes long, with previous historic consolidations kept in our basement for research purposes. We also continue to receive new laws and regulations as passed in slip form. Additionally, we have several historic indexes to Jersey legislation covering from the mid 1770s up to the 1980s, and various Eighteenth and Nineteenth century codes.

Since 2019, the website of the Jersey Legal Information Board has been making available all current laws both as passed, and in regularly updated consolidations. According to their website: A revised edition is issued every year on or close to 1st April. The update incorporated in the revised edition enactments will be brought into force from 2nd January in the previous year to 1st January in the current year (inclusive). New laws and amendments coming into force between 2^nd January and 31^st March in a given year will not appear in that year's revision, but in the following year. Nor will they be indexed (i.e. shown in the previous year's revised edition) until after the new revised edition goes live.

The consolidations are nominally organised into 27 chapters, as per our hard copy here in the library, however browsing by chapter is currently unavailable. In 2021, official status was granted to the revised consolidations made available on the JLIB.

Other useful features of the site include file of adopted and draft legislation, unofficial translations of older (generally pre 1960) laws from French into English, an ongoing project compiling all international treaties and conventions which have been specifically extended to Jersey, and an 'Annotated Laws' section, containing individual Laws from the Revised Edition to which annotations have been added by Law Reports International. Notes of reported cases have been added to individual articles of the Laws, with hyperlinks to the cases in The Jersey Law Reports and Jersey Judgments.

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The Bailiwick of Guernsey is itself made up of three separate jurisdictions - Guernsey (including the island of Herm), Alderney and Sark, all of which have their own parliaments who work closely together: the States of Deliberation in Guernsey, the States of Alderney and the Chief Pleas of Sark. The States of Deliberation consists of 38 elected members known as Peoples Deputies, 2 members selected from the 10 members of the States of Alderney, 2 non elected members (the HM Procurer and HM Comptroller, appointed by the Crown) and the Bailiff. The States of Deliberation can legislate for the Bailiwick in criminal matters and can legislate for the Bailiwick in any other matter with the agreement of the States of Alderney and Chief Pleas of Sark. Under a 1948 agreement Guernsey has responsibility for certain services in Alderney such as the airfield and breakwater, immigration, police, social services, health and education.

The States of Deliberation pass draft laws, known as 'Projets de Loi, which can't have effect until ratified by an Order in Council which happen at regular meetings of the Privy Council. Delegated legislation, in the form of Ordinances and Orders do not require Royal Assent.

IALS library has a very good collection of primary and secondary legislation for the Bailiwick. We have a complete run of "Orders in Council Ratifying a Projet de Loi" from 1800 right up to present day, with a small historical run in the basement extending back to 1651. We also have a complete run of Ordinances from 1800 to present day, and a volume of older ordinances back to 1533.

The Guernsey Legal Resources website "provides a comprehensive collection and database of Guernsey's more recent legal material as well as legislation and Judgments from earlier years". This includes primary and secondary legislation for Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and the Bailiwick from about 1950 onwards, and important earlier material. It also provides unofficial consolidated versions of key legislation. Legislation can be browsed by subject, or there is a user friendly advanced search facility.

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The Isle of Man's Courts of Justice website provides a clear description of the function and hierarchy of judicial system of the Isle of Man. The High Court has both a civil division and a criminal division (Court of General Gaol Delivery) to which more serious cases are referred from the lower courts, with criminal and civil appeals being heard by the Staff of Government Division. A historic right of appeal to the Privy Council also exists, making this the final Court of Appeal.

The main set of law reports for the Isle of Man are the Manx Law Reports, which provide an unbroken sequence of case law from 1522 to the present day, and which contain judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by the Isle of Man Courts together with headnotes and indices to help users. The Manx Law reports are available in full at the IALS library, and are the only current series of Manx reports available. Privy Council cases pertaining to the Isle of Man are available from the BAILIII website, and from 2009 onwards are also available on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council website. The Court of Justice website mentioned above also makes available the vast majority publicly available Manx judgments from 2002 onwards.

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The Government of Jersey website provides a clear description of the function and hierarchy of the judicial system in Jersey. The Royal Court has four divisions, with judges sitting in each, and sits as an Appeal Court six times a year. AS with the Isle of Man, the final Court of Appeal for Jersey is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Although the Jersey legal system is not strictly bound by precedent as are courts in England and Wales, they do tend to follow previous decisions, and it was not until the inception of The Judgments of the Royal Court of Jersey in 1950 that judgments in the English style, including the detailed reasoning of the Judge, were published. The IALS Library has the complete set of the Judgments up to 1985, when the series became The Jersey Law Reports, which we have up to the current day. More historic material can be found in the Table des Decisions de la Cour Royale de Jersey which provides a subject index to the more noteworthy decisions of the Royal Court between 1885 and 1978 (IALS Library has this series up to 1985).

Unreported cases from the Royal Court of Jersey are available from 1977, free of charge, from the Jersey Legal Information Board, and also on the BAILII website. Both sites provide full indexes of the Jersey Law reports; online access however is behind a paywall.

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The Guernsey Law Officers website provides a clear description of the function and hierarchy of the judicial system in Guernsey. There are summary courts on each of the three main islands for less serious offences, with the Royal Court of Guernsey alone having the power to hear indictable only offences. Civil matters can be heard on all of the main islands. Appeals in both civil and criminal matters are made to the Royal Court. As with the other Crown Dependencies, the final court of appeal is the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

The official source for Guernsey case law is the Guernsey Law Reports, first published in 2005 with cases going back to 1997. IALS Library holds the complete set through to the current day.

The Guernsey Legal Resources website mentioned above provides free access to unreported decisions of the Guernsey courts from 2004.  Online access to the Guernsey Law Reports is also provided, however a subscription to the site must be purchased. The Guernsey Law Journal, of which IALS Library holds the complete run (1985 – 2000), contains selected summaries of cases.

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IALS Library holds books about the law of each of the Crown Dependencies, as well as individually about each of the jurisdictions

A selection of titles are listed below; refer to the Library Catalogue for our full holdings, in all languages.

Crown Dependencies generally

Philip Bailhache (ed), A celebration of autonomy 1204 – 2004: 800 years of Channel Islands’  Law (Jersey Law Review 2005)

Philip Bailhache (ed), Confederation of the Channel Islands? Next steps (Jersey & Guernsey Law Review 2013)

Philip Bailhache (ed), Dependency or sovereignty?  Time to take stock (Jersey & Guernsey Law Review 2012)

Richard Holden, Offshore Civil Procedure (Sweet & Maxwell 2016)

Simon A Horner, The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands: a study of their status under constitutional, international and European law (EUI 1984)

Ian RC Kawalay et al (eds), Cross-border judicial cooperation in offshore litigation:  the British offshore world (Wildy, Simmonds & Hill 2016)

Colin Partridge, The Channel Islands in Anglo-French relations, 1689-1918 (Woodbridge, 2024)

Jersey

Duncan Fairgrieve, Comparative law and practice: contract law in a mid-channel jurisdiction (Hart 2016)

Rebecca Frances Macleod, Property law in Jersey (Jersey & Guernsey Law Review 2016)

Helen Miles, Reintegrative justice in practice: the informal management of crime in an island community (Ashgate 2014)

Stephanie Nicolle, The origin and development of Jersey law: an outline guide (Jersey & Guernsey Law Review 2009)

James M Sheedy, Litigating trust disputes in Jersey: law, procedure and remedy (Hart 2017)

Guernsey

Raymond K Ashton, Taxation in Guernsey: the new provisions (Key Haven 2010)

Gordon Dawes, The laws of Guernsey (Hart 2003)

Ian Kirk, Kirk on Guernsey company law (Key Haven 2009)

DM Ogier, The government and law of Guernsey (States of Guernsey 2005)

Tony Pursall, Guernsey trust law (Hart 2020)

Isle of Man

Charles A Cain,Guarantee and hybrid companies in the Isle of Man (Jordans 2003)

Peter W Edge, Manx public law (Isle of Man Law Society 1997)

Mark Solly, The Isle of Man: a low-tax area (Tolley 1984)

Travers Smith Braithwaite, The Isle of Man Companies Act 1992 (Travers Smith Braithwaiite 1992)

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There are no periodicals covering the Crown Dependencies as a whole; however many articles on this have been published in UK (and beyond) legal journals. The journal finding tools outlined in our guide to UK law will yield decent results, both for the subject of the dependencies generally, and to each of the individual jurisdictions.

There is no legal journal specifically dedicated to the Isle of Man (other than the newsletters mentioned above in 'legislation').

IALS Library holds the complete run of the Guernsey Law Journal from 1985 - 2000, when it ceased publication.

IALS Library holds the complete run of the Jersey Law Review from 1997 - 2006, when it became the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review, which IALS Library holds from 2007 - present day. Both the Jersey Law Review, and the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review, are available on open access via the Jersey Legal Information Board website.

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In addition to the websites detailed above, the following are websites with useful information information about the law on the various Crown Dependencies. Further resources can be discovered using our Eagle-I internet portal for law.

Isle of Man

Isle of Man Government website - provides official information and guidance from the various government departments

Isle of Man Law Society - history and role of the law society, FAQs and directory of members

WorldLII Isle of Man - for IoM case law, legislation, and other legal resources

Jersey

Jersey Law Commission - Contains a number of consultation papers and research reports

Jersey Law Society - provides information about the Jersey legal system, members directory and selected legislation.

WorldLII Jersey - for Jersey case law, legislation and other legal resources

Guernsey

Guernsey Bar - provides information and guidance about Guernsey law, and selected legislation.

States of Alderney - provides information about the legal and constitutional position of Alderney, with useful links.

WorldLII Guernsey - for Guernsey case law, legislation and other legal resources

(N.B. Electronic sources of legislation and case law are detailed in the relevant sections above)

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