Sacc does not see looking at Bailiff’s dual role as priority

With Jersey’s Bailiff due to retire in October next year, backbenchers in that island have said it would be a perfect time to review the role, which while being head of the government is also head of the judiciary.

The Jersey approach would see the Bailiff replaced as speaker of the States by an elected individual.

Although the issue has been raised in Guernsey before, the last time the issue was debated in Jersey – a proposal to split the role was defeated 31-13 – saw then SACC president Matt Fallaize say it had no interest in pursuing the constitutional change.

Current president Peter Roffey said that while in theory he supported the separation of powers personally – and mentioned it in his first manifesto in 1982 – his views had mellowed over the years.

‘I am no longer so convinced,’ he said. ‘I think the real danger of the separation of powers not being clearly demarked within a country or territory lies with governments seeking to exercise undue influence over what should be independent courts. That is a real disaster for freedom and the rule of law.’

He said the view was the opposite in Jersey and Guernsey. ‘It’s the possibility that an officer of the court could exercise undue influence over the parliament. Very different and in reality I don’t think that happens at all.’

A further issue for Guernsey is that the idea of separating powers actually covers three different ones – two are the judiciary and the legislature, but the third is the executive.

‘In Guernsey there is no separation of the legislature and the executive because executive power is diffused throughout our parliament and we have no cabinet or distinct “government” within the wider parliament,’ said Deputy Roffey.

‘I would not want that to change, but it is the logical extension of insisting that Guernsey implements the doctrine of the separation of powers.’

His third personal issue with the idea of having an elected speaker was a simple one.

‘My enthusiasm for the idea tends to wane when I look around the chamber and ask myself the very simply question, “which deputy would I like to see taking over the Bailiff’s role as presiding officer?”.’

As for Sacc as a whole, Deputy Roffey said there were a range of views within the committee, but all agreed that it was not a priority.

‘We have a referendum to run. Depending on the outcome, we may need an urgent policy letter to the States on complex electoral issues in order to implement any possible changes before 2020.

‘We are reviewing the States members’ code of conduct and how it is enforced and as soon as practical we will start reviewing how jurats are elected,’ he said.

‘So while we will keep an interested watching brief on events in Jersey, the role of the Bailiff in Guernsey is not currently top of our agenda.’

n An online petition calling for the States of Jersey to reverse its decision not to hold a referendum on the dual role of the Bailiff was set up earlier this year by former senator Jim Perchard. Just before it was due to close it had received just over 80 signatures. One thousand would be needed for ministers to respond and 5,000 for it to be debated by the States.