SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL&c.) (Kirkcaldy,asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether there is any where to be found an authoritative statement of the relation of the British Parliament to the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man; particulars of the powers of the British Parliament and the Man Parliament respectively in Man; whether any authority is exercised by the British Parliament in the Channel Islands; whether the Channel Islands are in any sense a dependence of this country; whether the Island authorities claim that England is a dependence of the Channel Islands, representing Old Normandy; whether 894 each is independent of the other; and, generally, the conditions and limitations of Home Rule as exercised in the Channel Islands and Man?
§ THE FIRST LORD (Mr. W. H. SMITH) (Strand, Westminster)It would be better to refer the hon. Member to the available sources of information; and I am unable to express any opinion with regard to the relations between these Islands and the Imperial Legislature, as that relation appears uncertain. For particulars of the powers of the British Parliament and the Man Parliament respectively, I must refer the hon. Member to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Isle of Man in 1792 (not numbered), also to Stephen's New Commentaries on the Laws of England, p. 98 of eighth edition of 1880, and to Black-stone's Commentaries, p. 89 of edition of 1857. As regards the Channel Islands, Stephen's Commentaries (p. 100 of same edition) may be consulted, and Blackstone (p. 95, same edition). A Royal Commission was appointed in 1846 to inquire into the Criminal Law in the Channel Islands, and reported fully as to Jersey and Guernsey in 1847. As regards Jersey, questions of civil organization of government are better elucidated by the Report of the later Royal Commission in 1857.