Le Cras, Laws of Jersey (1839)

Author(s): Abraham Jones Le Cras (1798-1869)

Title: The Laws, Customs, and Privileges, and their Administration, in the Island of Jersey; with notices of Guernsey; also a commentary on certain abuses, and a petition to Parliament for a reform of the same.

Remarks:

The Rev. G.R. Balleine epitomised Le Cras as an "agitator". This was not unreasonable; his arguments, vigorously expressed over the years were that Jersey was subject to Parliament, and that the island's Royal Court required radical reform. Le Cras' agitation was largely responsible for UK government attention to the issues, and the creation of the Royal Commissions into Channel Islands' criminal law (1846) and Jersey's civil law (1861). This book was part of the campaign but does contains much detail about the functioning of the law and administration of both Jersey and Guernsey in its day, often information that otherwise would be hard to recover. Edition(s): 1839 Provenance of this copy: St John Robilliard Collection

Further reading:

G.R. Balleine, A Biographical Dictionary of Jersey (London, l948) entry "Le Cras, Abraham Jones". J. Kelleher, The Triumph of the Country: the rural community in 19^th-century Jersey (2^nd edn, Jersey, 2017). G. Le Quesne, Jersey and Whitehall in the mid-nineteenth century (3^rd Joan Stevens Memorial Lecture, Jersey, 1992).