Editing Politics of Jersey (section)

=== Division of powers between Governor and Bailiff ===

[[File:Sir_Philip_Bailhache_Bailiff_of_Jersey.jpg|thumb|209x209px|To this day, the tradition that the Bailiff wears red robes remains]]

Sir [[John Peyton (soldier)|John Peyton]] became the Governor in 1603 after the death of Queen [[Elizabeth I]]. Peyton struggled with the Bailiff over converting the island from the dominant Calvinist religion to Anglicanism.<ref name="BHJ24"/>{{Rp|93–4}} In 1615, [[Jean Hérault]] was appointed [[Bailiff of Jersey|Bailiff]] by the King, having been promised the role by [[letters patent]] in 1611. Peyton disputed this appointment, claiming it was the Governor's jurisdiction to appoint the Bailiff. Hérault asserted it was the King's jurisdiction to directly appoint the Bailiff. An Order in Council (dated 9 August 1615) sided with Hérault, which Hérault took to claim the Bailiff was the real head of government and the Governor was simply a military officer. To back his claims, he also cited that in the Norman administrative tradition, the Bailiffs had "no one above them except the Duke".<ref name="BHJ24"/>{{Rp|96–7}}<ref name=":223">Bailhache, Philip (n.d.). [https://www.jerseylaw.je/publications/jglr/Pages/JLR9910_cry_for_constitutional_reform.aspx The Cry for Constitutional Reform – A perspective from the Office of Bailiff]. Jersey Law (jerseylaw.je). Retrieved 3 June 2022.</ref>

This dispute led to one of the most major turning points in Jersey's constitutional history, as the division of powers between the Governor and Bailiff were clearly demarcated. Though the Privy Council did not agree with Hérault's extreme position on the precedence of the Bailiff, on 18 February 1617 it declared that the "charge of military forces be wholly in the Governor, and the care of justice and civil affairs in the Bailiff." This secured for both the Bailiff and the States precedence over the Governor on justice and civil affairs, the constitutional precedent which limits the involvement of the Lieutenant-Governor in domestic affairs today.<ref name=":223" />