Haro, Haro, Haro! A mon aide mon Prince, on me fait tort

[palani]

http://www.globalcomplexity.org/Sark.htm

The Island of Sark: A Kind of Democracy
Barry Cooper
bcooper@orcop.com

It is commonly assumed that a nation governed by individuals, elected by a people all having an equal right to vote, leads to a society that is inherently "better" than a nation where there are no such equal rights. But is this always true? We tend to assume that despotism is the consequence of not having a universal franchise. Which may be true of large nations, but what about small countries? Or communities within large nations? In practice, does the Western top-down view of democracy give everyone what they want?

The aim of these notes is to raise awareness of an example of a decentralised form of governance that seems to give its people what they want. But it is not a democracy of the Western kind.

The Island of Sark is governed by individuals whose right to govern is inherited. It is a system of government that has existed on the island, with a short break during World War II, for nearly 350 years.

This description and discussion concentrate on just a few aspects of a system of governance and administration that may seem surprisingly intricate, for such a small place. Intricate when viewed from the top down, as an outsider.

Sark is one of the group of islands known as "The Channel Islands", located 20 miles off the coast of France. Although seen to be British, Sark is neither a part of the United Kingdom or Great Britain nor a member or associate member of the European Union. The British Government shoulders the feudal responsibility of the British Sovereign for the defence of Sark, for foreign affairs and has ultimate responsibility for law and order. Otherwise Sark is truly independent and the people of Sark look after the day-to-day affairs of their island.

Unique in Europe, Sark has the feudal system of governance. In essence, the Seigneur of the Island (the Lord of the Manor) holds the fief (the whole island) from the English monarch, in perpetuity. The fief is divided into 40 tenements (land holdings) held in perpetual tenure from the Seigneur. The holders of the tenements all have a right (given in the Reform (Sark) Law, 1951) to a seat in Chief Pleas (the Island Government). In addition, islanders vote for 12 Deputies who sit in Chief Pleas. Chief Pleas is the Seigneur’s Court of Chief Pleas, where he has the right to sit and speak on any subject discussed at any meeting and has the power of veto over Sark Ordinances. The present Seigneur has not exercised this power of veto during his tenure, although his predecessors have used it. Being a tenement owner the Seigneur also has a vote in Chief Pleas. The Seigneur appoints the officers of the Island Court and the Treasurer and acts as the titular head.

The Island has four paid officers:

The Seneschal: the Judge/Magistrate and President of Chief Pleas

The Prévôt: the Sheriff of the Seneschal’s Court and of Chief Pleas

The Greffier: the Clerk to the Court and to Chief Pleas

The Treasurer: who is responsible for general revenue and expenditure

There is a Secretary and a Tourism Officer, but no other paid civil servants. All other official positions are undertaken on a voluntary basis, including those of the Constable who has civil as well as police duties and the Vingtenier (Junior Constable).

The resident population is about 600, boosted to around 1,000 in the summer as a result of visitors and seasonal employment in the hotels and driving horse-drawn carriages. There is no restriction on immigration – anyone can move to the Island. In practice, only those with secured employment or income earned from elsewhere move to the Island, because there is no Welfare State to support those who cannot pay their own way.

Residents are taxed on their perceived capital, sometimes referred to as a "Visible Wealth Tax". Tax demands are modest, amounting to an average of less than £200 per Islander. Most of the revenue raised goes to help "the poor". Income is not taxed.

A landing fee paid by boat passengers and the Impôt (a levy on alcohol and tobacco) funds "public services" (for want of a more appropriate name).

There is no National Health Service and residents pay for their health-care by membership of an insurance scheme. Chief Pleas provide a doctor’s house and surgery free of charge and pay the doctor a retaining fee. The doctor dispenses the medicines and makes a charge on patients for consultation.

There are three schools on the Island with teachers’ salaries paid by Chief Pleas, providing schooling from age 5 to 15.

The only motorised vehicles allowed on the Island are tractors, which are limited in number and size, and electric invalid carriages. Travel around the Island is on foot, bicycle and horse drawn carriages (tractors are not permitted to carry passengers). As a result of keeping fast moving or heavy vehicles off the lanes the cost of maintenance is kept down to around £20,000 per annum. The lanes are constructed from stone, with no binding such as tarmac or cement, and are maintained by Islanders on contract to Chief Pleas during winter months (water is an essential part of this kind of construction).

There is no mains water or drainage, both of which are the responsibility of individual householders. Mains electricity, which is expensive compared with England, is provided by the Sark Electricity Company with its power station. Solar powered energy is common for domestic purposes.

Tenement holders sublet individual land holdings on which the majority of houses are built. Since 1976 new house building has been restricted to individuals who have been resident on the Island for at least 15 years and only persons with similar residential qualifications can occupy these houses. There are therefore two housing markets, an open market and a local market. In theory this overcomes the problems experienced in rural England as a result of incomers pushing up house prices, in practice the human and financial resources to build houses for young Islanders are hard to come by.

The Island culture and values of Sark residents are subtly different from those of the UK and its residents. This is an inevitable consequence of fundamentally different legal and government systems. Clameur de Haro is an example. This enables anyone to stop someone else doing anything he or she considers to be an infringement of his or her rights. At the scene he or she must, in front of witnesses, recite the Lord's prayer in French and cry out "Haro, Haro, Haro! A mon aide mon Prince, on me fait tort". All actions must then cease until the matter is heard by the Seneschal’s Court.

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Because most of the residents move around the Island day-to-day on foot or cycle there is "continuous" one-to-one contact and conversations, in a way that is physically impossible in a society dependent on motor cars. Visitors to the Island are no exception, which is one reason why some people and their adult children return to the Island on holiday year after year. The contrast between Sark society and English suburban-style rural living is very noticeable. Whether you like it or not as an outsider depends on whether you like talking to strangers.

It is not in the interest of individual residents to be seen to be wealthy, because individual taxation is based on perceived wealth. As a result "keeping up with the Jones’s" is not evident and people "show off" in non-materialistic ways, such as by having beautiful gardens.

Property values gradually decline as the ends of leases approach. This is disliked by Islanders constantly being informed by the BBC about increasing property prices throughout the UK. There is a reluctance to spend money on property improvements because, unless the outstanding lease is long, this is not a worthwhile investment.

The Island government, Chief Pleas, is controlled by individuals who have no need to secure electoral popularity. They and their successors are in that position as a right. As a result they are motivated (albeit subconsciously) to take a long-term view of what is best for the Island; in other words to look after the interests of their heirs.

The interests of "the poor" are looked after day-to-day by the ‘Procureur of the Poor' (an official position undertaken by a volunteer). This concentrates resources on those in greatest need. Payments can include medical insurance premiums. The contrast between the simplicity of the Sark system and the cumbersome bureaucracy of the UK system is stark.

Medical care on the Island seems to work well compared with England. For example, the author came across a visitor who on a previous visit had dislocated her shoulder. It happened on a Sunday. Within an hour she was being greeted by a consultant at the front door of the hospital on Guernsey, having been taken down to Sark harbour by tractor-drawn ambulance, where the St John’s Ambulance boat was waiting, which in turn was met by an ambulance on the quayside at St Peter Port, Guernsey. Could that have been organised so well in a top-down NHS-type of system?

There is no VAT or any kind of tax on sales or business profits. This, together with the absence of income tax, enables people to undertake work for each other and receive payments for their work in a way that is impossible in a State that requires all business and personal earnings to be declared. There is no "black economy" on Sark because there is no reason for it to exist. Full-time employment is a foreign concept; most people gain money in various ways as opportunities arise.

Market forces (electricity charges are about five times English rates) and the lack of motorcars ensures that energy is used relatively efficiently on the Island. The insulation of houses is generally recognised as being important, in contrast to the English attitude of doing what is required by Building Regulations.

There is no need to accommodate motorised vehicles as a result of which the scale of physical development on the Island is much less than in a car-dependent country. Domestic garages and drives to them are not needed. Lanes are narrow and headroom low, with overhanging trees. Junctions between lanes do not need much space. Carriageway footpaths are not needed. A disadvantage of water-bound stone roads is that they can be very dusty during long dry spells: But what a minor problem compared with the many problems caused by attempts to accommodate motor cars.

The Island economy is mainly dependent on visitors, through the landing fees they pay within their ferry tickets, which contribute to Island funds, and the purchases they make in the shops, public houses, hotels, restaurants and cafés. Some of the tenement holders have island businesses, and so Chief Pleas is motivated to make the Island attractive to visitors. There is an extensive network of footpaths, along and down the cliffs, all of which are very well cared for. During the tourist season there are many events including sheep racing, concerts of all kinds of music, an annual cricket match with the Lord's Taverners, and so on.

There is a tendency for Islanders who run profitable businesses to give generously, especially in their wills, to projects that benefit everyone on the Island. For example, a splendid new building is currently being erected, funded this way, to replace the old Island hall and schools and provide space for Chief Pleas and other meetings and the Seneschal’s Court. A charity that subsidises the cost of medicines prescribed by the doctor is well supported, with numerous fund-raising events throughout the year.

The day-to-day positive motivation of people not "brought up" with a mind-set based on ready access to State dependency is quite different from the negative motivation of residents of a Welfare State.

From the grass roots of day-to-day Sark life, all of this can be seen as "government by the people". A kind of democracy. The Island Government does not interfere in individuals’ daily lives and so people are free to get what they want out of life. Chief Pleas ensures that the structure of the system is appropriate for the complexity of day-to-day life of the people of Sark.

Because Sark is small and everyone knows each other, the ever-changing intricate day-to-day activities on the Island seem to be integrated in a way which top-down co-ordination never seems to achieve. This intricacy is moreover impossible to begin to describe in a meaningful way to anyone whose mindset is top-down. And yet, seen from outside the Island, the results on the ground seem to be good. To a casual visitor it is a puzzling but bewitching place to visit.

Unfortunately, in the opinion of the author and of many others, the current notion of democratic human rights has gained credence on the Island and the constitution is about to be changed to fit the Western democratic mould.

Sark, soon to be ruled by people motivated to do what their electorate wants now, will become a different place.

(Barry Cooper contributed the notes, a top-down local government planner in England in the 1970s, since when he has been interested in and advocated bottom-up systems of governance. In the 1980s he was a member of the Executive Committee of the Town and Country Planning Association. In the 1990s he and his wife ran a home-based business. His e-mail address is bcooper@orcop.com

Anyone interested in delving deeper should visit the Sark Government web-site at http://www.sark.gov.gg/ - it is all there, open Government as it should be.)

10 August 2003