Talk:Duchy of Normandy

Legal status

Legal status of the Channel Islands?

I had asserted that the Channel Islands were the last rump of the original Duchy of Normandy. Another contributor modified that, saying,

"To this day, inhabitants of the Channel islands often refer to the Queen informally as "Duke [sic] of Normandy", but this has no legal status."

Yeah, it might seem counter-intuitive, but Elizabeth Windsor is not the Queen of the Channel Islands, and they are not part of the United Kingdom. Elizabeth Windsor rules the Channel Islands in her capacity as Duke of Normandy. That really is their legal status. I believe the situation is similar for the Isle of Man, that it too is not actually part of the UK.

They don't elect an MP to the Parliament, at Westminster, as they each have their own little Parliament - even little Sark, with only a couple of hundred citizens.

Being semi-independent (they are crown protectorates), they have their own tax code, and UK people find a home there, to retire.

Cheers! George Swan (talk) 13:07, 15 August 2022 (CDT)

Certainly they're not part of the UK: they're Crown Dependencies (not protectorates). I've added more detail in the article. Peter Jackson (talk) 05:23, 16 August 2022 (CDT)

See also article in Jersey Law Review for detailed survey of sources. Briefly, official references to English/British monarchs as Dukes (or Duchesses) of Normandy since 1259 are rare, and apparently none at all recent. Peter Jackson (talk) 05:42, 16 August 2022 (CDT)

That's interesting. I had to go to the wayback machine to read it.

So, if we come across another legal scholar, who takes a different point of view, we may revisit the question? George Swan (talk) 21:19, 16 August 2022 (CDT)

In principle, yes. But the chances of anything much recent having been missed seem pretty small to me. Peter Jackson (talk) 04:14, 17 August 2022 (CDT)