His spoke after receiving confirmation from the Policy & Resources Committee that a total remuneration of £236,657 was shared between the Royal Court’s 16 jurats last year.
Deputy St Pier had asked for the amounts paid since 2023, which was when he had last asked the same question.
P&R told him that in 2023 the jurats received £150,542 and last year, £174,940.
‘The amounts fluctuate because the principal source of income comes from charges levelled for the jurats’ role in the contract or conveyancing court and obviously the number and value of property transactions varies from year-to-year,’ he said.
He said he did not begrudge this ‘relatively modest compensation’, from these fees, which is shared between the jurats, who, he said, devoted a considerable amount of time to the role.
‘But I do feel that the arrangements should be more transparent. That’s why I asked the question, without which the arrangement would be little-known, and the information would never be in the public domain.’
He said that there was little practical purpose to this role of conveyancing court in the 21st century, other than tradition, he added.
‘The process is a ceremonial inconvenience for the public most of time and neither is it the best use of resources, either in terms of people or space, given both are limited.
‘Personally, I’d scrap the arrangement and replace the jurats’ fee share arrangement with a transparent annual stipend.’
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