Cornish independence
Cornish independence is asserted by those who believe Cornwall is not a county of England but has retained a separate constitutional status over the centuries. This is one of tenets of the political party Mebyon Kernow. Some of the evidence for this position is set out below.
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2 Pre-conquest 3 Stannary Law 4 The Duchy of Cornwall 5 Currently 6 Source 7 External Links |
The Cornish are a nation with its own law (Stannary Law), based on pre-conquest Cornish common law, which proceeds from a Royal Charter (The Charter of Pardon 1508).
Cornwall as a contemporary geographical entity is entirely different from Cornwall (historico-geographical entity). Cornwall once stretched as far east as Bristol, with Cornish language prevalent in parts of Devon immediately anterior to the Prayer Book Rebellion (1549).
The "Cornish People" - i.e. those of Celtic Cornish
extraction - seek to be recognized as a national minority, and an ethnic minority under the definition set down by Lord Fraser in the case of Mandla v. Dowell Lee 1988 which is used to define "ethnic group" for the purposes of the Race Relations Act.
A signed petition of more than 50,000 Cornish people asking for an independent assembly for Cornwall is indicative of opinion. The adult population of Cornwall is fewer than 350,000. This petition was not readily available for signature in all areas of Cornwall (in fact only in some of eastern Cornwall, where resistance to a Cornish assembly would probably be higher and with a greater percentage of English immigrants). It is a representative petition and makes a very telling point.
The Cornish are a formerly independent nation, finally conquered by Athelstan, King of West Saxons, in 936 AD. He appropriated all Cornish lands east of the River Tamar and established the boundary of Cornwall for all time as the East Bank of the Tamar. Until the 14th Century, all legal references were made to "Anglia et Cornubia" - England and Cornwall, as Cornwall was not incorporated in England, despite having been conquered
The first Lord Warden of the Stannaries of Cornwall (and Devon) was William de Wrotham who was appointed during the reign of King Richard I of England on 20th November 1197. During the year 1198 juries of miners were convened at Launceston in Cornwall before William de Wrotham to declare the Law and Practice of the tin mines, and the Royal Tax on the tin which was mined was known as the "coinage of tin". The Writ appointing William de Wrotham confirmed the "just and ancient customs and liberties" of miners, smelters and merchants of tin. It was from those sessions of jurymen sitting under a Royal official that the Parliaments or Convocations of Tinners of Cornwall (and Devon) originated.
Further Royal Charters affecting the administration of the Stannaries of Cornwall (and Devon) and the rights and privileges of tinners were those of King John in 1201 and King Edward I in 1305, King Edward IV in 1466, and the Charter of Pardon of King Henry VII in 1508
The Charters of King John and King Edward I granted privileges to tinners to be tried by their own Courts and substantial exemptions from taxation. The 1508 Charter of Pardon affected only Cornish tinners who paid the sum of £1,000.00, then a huge sum of money, to King Henry VII, and that sum was raised by a general levy on all tinners. In return for the payment the King included in the Charter provisions for the self-government of the Stannaries and a right for the tinners to veto statues and ordnances which affected them and the Stannaries.
Convocations or Parliaments of Tinners (now known as "Stannary Parliaments") were convened from time to time over several centuries in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the Charter of Pardon of 1508. Commissions were issued to Lord Wardens of the Stannaries for the time being, who by virtue of such commissions, required the Mayors and Councils of the four Boroughs of Truro, Lostwithiel, Launceston and Helston in Kerrier, to elect six Stannators for each such Borough, to serve as Members of such Parliaments and to determine the Laws affecting tinners and the Cornish Stannaries. Such Parliaments had great authority and their enactments passed into Law after receiving Royal or Ducal assent.
The Cornish Stannary Royal Charter of Pardon of 1508 is revealing. This Charter is still in force and effective according to the latest Butterworths reissue of Halsbury's Statutes, Vol.10, Constitutional Law, 1995, Royal Mines Act 1693, 5 Will & Mar, c.6, [HMSO Ed. 1978, ISBN011801661X], which made this guarantee just five years after the more generally known, Bill of Rights 1688:
The Cornish Stannaries form part of the Duchy of Cornwall and are at present vested exclusively in Prince Charles, in right of his Duchy of Cornwall.
The constitutional position rests upon the Charters of 1337 whereby King Edward III created the Duchy of Cornwall and appointed his elder son, Prince Edward, known as "The Black Prince", as the first Duke of Cornwall. There is a Duchy Council which consists of high officials appointed by the Monarch or Duke of Cornwall for the time being. One such official, whose concern is supposed to be the administration of the Stannaries, is called the Lord Warden of the Stannaries. The Lord Warden of the Stannaries used to exercise judicial and military functions in Cornwall, and is still the official who, upon the commission of the Monarch or Duke of Cornwall for the time being, has the function of calling a Parliament or Convocation of Tinners in Cornwall.
In 1351, the Black Prince, first Duke of Cornwall, initiated a survey of his property in "Cornwall and England". The establishment of the Duchy of Cornwall contains the words "we do by this present charter, for us and our heirs, annex and unite to the aforesaid Duchy, to remain the same for ever, so that from the same Duchy they may at no time be in any
wise separated". There has been no constitutional change to the Duchy which can be construed as changing either the
national identity of the Cornish people nor Cornwall's distinct segregation from England.
Unfortunately, since the decline of tin mining in Cornwall, and the abolition of the coinage duty, the Royal interest in and protection of the Cornish Stannaries has been withdrawn. The tin coinage was abolished in 1838 and Queen Victoria, and subsequent Monarchs and Dukes of Cornwall, have been compensated by a perpetual annuity. That annuity was charged to the Duchy of Cornwall. Customs duties were imposed on imported tin ore and refined tin to make good the loss of revenue.
The revenues and perquisites enjoyed by the present Duke of Cornwall (Prince Charles) in right of his Duchy are very substantial. Apart from occasional ceremonial functions, the present Duke of Cornwall appears to have abdicated from all his constitutional functions as Duke of Cornwall. It is currently suggested that the Duchy of Cornwall is a mere property agency which has to be run at a profit and has nothing to do with the constitutional position of Cornwall and its relationship to England. That is wholly false.
A number of attempts have been made to persuade the Duke of Cornwall to issue a commission to the Lord Warden of the Stannaries to convene a Stannary Parliament so that Stannary Law can be brought up to date and stated in modern terms. All approaches have been rejected without any explanation. Cornish tin miners have been affected to their detriment and have suffered the denial of their rights and privileges as provided by Law as a result of the withdrawal of any Royal interest. In Cornwall, tin miners have the right to pitch bounds in land belonging to other persons provided that strict conditions are observed. Stannary Law is supposed to be enforced in the Truro County Court. Attempts to register tin bounds have been largely frustrated.
To quote the Grand Bard, addressing a recent Gorsedd, "Cornwall is not England, and never will be, despite what Government Departments may say". Actually, they are now saying that it actually is a unique situation: Part VI, The Tamar Bridge Act 1998, Section 41, Crown Rights, contains the following provision for the Duke of Cornwall:
The Cornish People
Pre-conquest
Stannary Law
The last Stannary Parliament convened by a Lord Warden of the Stannaries sat in 1753. The Duchy of Cornwall
Currently
Source
External Links
