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2 Pre-conquest 3 Stannary Law 4 The Duchy of Cornwall 5 Currently 6 Source 7 External Links |
The Cornish are a nation with its own law (Stannary Law), based on pre-conquest Cornish common law, which is re-affirmed by a Royal Charter (The Charter of Pardon 1508).
Cornwall as a contemporary geographical entity is entirely different from Cornwall (historico-geographical entity). Cornwall once stretched as far east as Bristol, with Cornish language prevalent in parts of Devon immediately anterior to the Prayer Book Rebellion (1549).
The "Cornish People" - i.e. those of Celtic Cornish
extraction - seek to be recognized as a national minority, under the terms of the Council of Europe's European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. One means of obtaining such recognition could be obtained via the courts by submitting Cornish credentials for judicial scrutiny to see whether they conform to the legal definition of an ethnic group under the judgement of Lord Fraser,in the case of Mandla v. Dowell Lee 1988, which is used for the purposes of the Race Relations Act. However, a much simpler means of obtaining practical rights and legal recognition and protection under the Act might be on the grounds of "national origins" (see below).
A signed petition of more than 50,000 Cornish people asking for an independent assembly for Cornwall is indicative of opinion. The adult population of Cornwall is fewer than 350,000. This petition was not readily available for signature in all areas of Cornwall (in fact only in some of eastern Cornwall, where resistance to a Cornish assembly would probably be higher and with a greater percentage of English immigrants). It is a representative petition and makes the very telling point that the Cornish do indeed, despite deliberate attempts by the state to suppress their identity and deny them their history and constitutional status, still retain a sense of their difference from the English majority of Britain.
The Cornish are a formerly independent nation, finally conquered by Athelstan, King of West Saxons, in 936 AD. He appropriated all Cornish lands east of the River Tamar and established the boundary of Cornwall for all time as the East Bank of the Tamar. Until the 14th Century, all legal references were made to "Anglia et Cornubia" - England and Cornwall, as Cornwall was not incorporated in England, despite having been conquered
The first Lord Warden of the Stannaries of Cornwall (and Devon) was William de Wrotham who was appointed during the reign of King Richard I of England on 20th November 1197. During the year 1198 juries of miners were convened at Launceston in Cornwall before William de Wrotham to declare the Law and Practice of the tin mines, and the Royal Tax on the tin which was mined was known as the "coinage of tin". The Writ appointing William de Wrotham confirmed the "just and ancient customs and liberties" of miners, smelters and merchants of tin. That notwithstanding, at an even earlier period, the Greek writer, Pytheas of Massilia, confirmed that the Cornish were known to be "civilised". That they were civilised can mean only one thing - that the Cornish of over 2,000 years ago, had their own form of administration. The medieval sessions of jurymen sitting under a Royal official merely continued with that tradition.
Further Royal Charters affecting the administration of the Stannaries of Cornwall (and Devon) and the rights and privileges of tinners were those of King John in 1201 and King Edward I in 1305, King Edward IV in 1466, and the Charter of Pardon of King Henry VII in 1508
The Charters of King John and King Edward I granted privileges to tinners to be tried by their own Courts and substantial exemptions from taxation. The 1508 Charter of Pardon affected only Cornish tinners (not the English tinners in Devon who also had their own Stannary Parliament) who paid the sum of £1,000.00, then a huge sum of money, to King Henry VII, and that sum was raised by a general levy on all tinners. In return for the payment, the King re-affirmed the pre-existing priviledges and rights of Cornish tinners for self-government together with the additional right to veto statues and ordnances of the Duchy and Westminster which affected their interests.
Convocations or Parliaments of Tinners (now known as "Stannary Parliaments") were convened from time to time over several centuries in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the Charter of Pardon of 1508. Commissions were issued to Lord Wardens of the Stannaries for the time being, who by virtue of such commissions, required the Mayors and Councils of the four Boroughs of Truro, Lostwithiel, Launceston and Helston in Kerrier, to elect six Stannators for each such Borough, to serve as Members of such Parliaments and to determine the Laws affecting tinners and the Cornish Stannaries. Such Parliaments had great authority and their enactments passed into Law after receiving Royal or Ducal assent.
The Cornish Stannary Royal Charter of Pardon of 1508 is revealing. This Charter is still in force and effective according to the latest Butterworths reissue of Halsbury's Statutes, Vol.10, Constitutional Law, 1995, Royal Mines Act 1693, 5 Will & Mar, c.6, [HMSO Ed. 1978, ISBN011801661X], which made this guarantee just five years after the more generally known, Bill of Rights 1688:
The Cornish Stannaries form part of the Duchy of Cornwall and are at present vested exclusively in Prince Charles, in right of his Duchy of Cornwall.
The constitutional position rests upon the Charters of 1337 whereby King Edward III created the Duchy of Cornwall and appointed his elder son, Prince Edward, known as "The Black Prince", as the first Duke of Cornwall. There is a Duchy Council which consists of high officials appointed by the Monarch or Duke of Cornwall for the time being. One such official, whose concern is supposed to be the administration of the Stannaries, is called the Lord Warden of the Stannaries. The Lord Warden of the Stannaries used to exercise judicial and military functions in Cornwall, and is still the official who, despite there being no provision for it in the Duchy of Cornwall Charters of Creation, upon the commission of the Monarch or Duke of Cornwall for the time being, has the function of calling a Parliament or Convocation of Tinners in Cornwall. (In fact, Lord Mohun, at the time of the Civil War {the English one} himself convened a convocation without a ducal writ. His convocation has been officially recognised and it is quite disengenuous that the "royal" authorities insisted since that time on the necessity for such a ducal writ for a convocation.)
In 1351, the Black Prince, first Duke of Cornwall, initiated a survey of his property in "Cornwall and England". The establishment of the Duchy of Cornwall contains the words "we do by this present charter, for us and our heirs, annex and unite to the aforesaid Duchy, to remain the same for ever, so that from the same Duchy they may at no time be in any
wise separated". There has been no constitutional change to the Duchy which can be construed as changing either the
national identity of the Cornish people nor Cornwall's distinct segregation from England.
Unfortunately, since the decline of tin mining in Cornwall, and the abolition of the coinage duty, the Royal interest in and protection of the Cornish Stannaries has been withdrawn. The tin coinage was abolished in 1838 and Queen Victoria, and subsequent Monarchs and Dukes of Cornwall, have been compensated by a perpetual annuity. That annuity was charged to the Consolidated Fund to which ALL British tax-payers contribute. Customs duties were imposed on imported tin ore and refined tin to make good the loss of revenue, together with extra claims on mineral right ownership by the Duchy of Cornwall. Such claims to land were made under the Duchy of Cornwall Management Act which, in its current (still legal) form, i.e. 1863 - 1982, enables the Duchy to back date its claims to property in Cornwall. The courts are still required to accept as proof of title to property, signed statements to that effect by the Duke or his representative. In all other circumstances, and in all other democracies, such feudal behaviour would not be tolerated and would be definitely questioned!
The revenues and perquisites enjoyed by the present Duke of Cornwall (Prince Charles) in right of his Duchy are very substantial. Apart from occasional ceremonial functions, the present Duke of Cornwall appears to have abdicated from all his constitutional functions as Duke of Cornwall. It is currently suggested that the Duchy of Cornwall is a mere property agency which has to be run at a profit and has nothing to do with the constitutional position of Cornwall and its relationship to England. That is wholly false. How many private business enterprises or landed property estates enjoy such things as the right of foreshore, the rights of intestacy and bona vacantia, the right of wrecks, the right of royal fish and wines together with the protection of its rights and profits under the provisions of no less than 100 acts of parliament? Should the Duke's profits, God forbid, be threatened this "private" estate owner can rely on the protection of a trial at bar before the House of Lords in which the Duke himself selects the "bar".
A number of attempts have been made to persuade the Duke of Cornwall to issue a writ to the Lord Warden of the Stannaries to convene a Stannary Parliament so that Stannary Law can be brought up to date and stated in modern terms. Even though this was never a charter requirement (ref. Lord Mohun), all approaches have been rejected without any explanation. Cornish tin miners have been affected to their detriment and have suffered the denial of their rights and privileges as provided by Law as a result of the withdrawal of any Royal interest. In Cornwall, tin miners have the right to pitch bounds in land belonging to other persons provided that strict conditions are observed. Stannary Law is supposed to be enforced in the Truro County Court. There have been many successful successful registrations of tin bounds, despite official attempts to frustrate them. Most recently, bounds have been registered (2003) at the Court of Stannaries and Mines in Truro in regard to land on Goss Moor.
To quote the Grand Bard, addressing a recent Gorsedd, "Cornwall is not England, and never will be, despite what Government Departments may say". Actually, they are now saying that it actually is a unique situation: Part VI, The Tamar Bridge Act 1998, Section 41, Crown Rights, contains the following provision for the Duke of Cornwall:
www.cornish-stannary-parliament.abelgratis.com
The Cornish People
Pre-conquest
Stannary Law
The last Stannary Parliament convened by a Lord Warden of the Stannaries sat in 1753. The Duchy of Cornwall
Currently
Source
additional information at:External Links