Editing Politics of Jersey (section)

==Criticism==

Jersey's political system has often been criticised over the centuries, both within and outside the island. The 'Jersey Way' is a term used in critiques to describe a political culture that is claimed to enforce conformity, ignore perversion of the course of justice and suppress political dissent. The Tax Justice Network states that the Jersey Way allows for the island's political system to be abused by financial services sector companies.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=2017-11-05|title=Portrait of a tax haven: Jersey|url=https://taxjustice.net/2017/11/05/portrait-tax-haven-jersey/|access-date=2021-06-05|website=Tax Justice Network|language=en-US|archive-date=18 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210518095507/https://www.taxjustice.net/2017/11/05/portrait-tax-haven-jersey/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Tax Justice Network criticises the political system for its absence of judicial independence (due to 'close relations between the legal and financial services' and 'the intimate relations between legal professionals who grew up together'); lack of second chamber in its parliament (for scrutiny purposes); no political parties; no formalised government and opposition and the lack of a wide range of independent news sources, or research capabilities.<ref name=":3" />

Criticism of the political system is no modern development. In the 19th century, [[Abraham Le Cras]] was an outspoken new resident of the island. A retired colonel, Le Cras was opposed to Jersey's historic self-government and represented a group of people who not only thought Jersey should be fully integrated into England, but disputed the right of the States even to make its own laws. He is noted as saying, 'The States have no more power to make laws for Jersey than I have'. In 1840 he won a court case challenging the States' power to naturalise people as citizens. The [[Privy Council]] determined that the long-standing precedent of the States doing so had been invalidated since Jersey had been ruled under [[Civil law (legal system)|civil law]] since 1771. In 1846, he persuaded the MP for [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] to push for a Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the [[law of Jersey]]; however HM Government instead promised a Royal Commission. The Commission advised the abolition of the Royal Court run by the Jurats and its replacement by three Crown-appointed judges, and the introduction of a paid police force. Le Cras left the island to live in England in 1850.<ref name="BHJ24"/>{{Rp|247}}