Cornish Stannary Parliament
From Cornwall24
The Cornish Stannary Parliament was re-established in 1974 and has campaigned since then against the government of the United Kingdom's position on the constitutional status of Cornwall. It also campaigns on other human rights issues concerning the rights of the Cornish people.
Contents |
Status
The historic Cornish Stannary Parliament last assembled in at Truro in 1752, and continued until September 11 1753. The Cornish Stannary Parliament formed in 1974 claims continuity from the historic parliament on the grounds that the English legal system does not recognise desuetude (laws lapsing through lack of use), and cites the precedent of the Court of Chivalry, which sat in 1952 for the first time in over 200 years. Their contention is that the Stannary Parliament, whilst not in session, still exists. They also point to the fact that the 1508 Charter of Pardon from which the historic parliament derived its powers, was confirmed as still being on the statute books in 1977.[1] (Ref - National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, where Welsh MP Dafydd Wigley deposited his papers regarding this in 1978).
The British government rejects the claims of the group. In March 2007, Bridget Prentice, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice stated in a written answer in the House of Commons "...there are no valid Cornish stannary organisations in existence.", "There are no treaties today that apply to Cornwall only..." and that " There is no special status for legislation which applies to Cornwall or to Cornish localities."
History
On 20 May, 1974 a group claiming to be a revived Cornish Stannary Parliament assembled in Lostwithiel. The group interpreted the 1508 charter as applying to all descendents of Cornish tin-miners and claimed that they had the power to veto all laws made in Westminster, not only those relating to the tin and mineral industries. The meeting was primarily called in response to a crisis in the china clay industry. Employers in the industry had been forbidden by the Pay Board from paying their 9,000 workers the higher wages agreed under a productivity deal. The Warden of the Stannaries, Geoffrey Waldegrave, 12th Earl Waldegrave refused an invitation to open the parliament. Ref - "Cornishmen show teeth in reviving a parliament", Trevor Fishlock, The Times, May 21, 1974.
On June 24 at a meeting at which the stannators wore kilts of Cornish national tartan, and at which the Cornish national anthem was played, the group proclaimed eighteen articles or acts, including the claim to retain all taxes gathered in the Duchy, the declaration of Saint Piran's Flag to be the national flag, a claim on all mineral rights including oil and natural gas, and sought to reverse recent local government reorganisation. A petition was sent to the queen declaring that if she did not recognise the parliament they would seize crown lands and properties. They also sought recognition from the United Nations. (Ref - "Why Cornishmen are nailing their colours to Magna Carta", Susanne Puddefoot, The Times October 26, 1974)
On 12 December 1974 the Home Office replied to the petition, saying that the Home Office could accept elections by the stannary towns only as constitutive of a valid Stannary Parliament. On 15 December, Brian Hambley, using the title "Lord Protector of the Stannaries", said they had decided to postpone the seizure of property in St Austell to give the four town councils an opportunity to appoint stannators. Hambley claimed there was a constitutional crisis and this should be done "immediately to avoid political anarchy".
Operation Chough
In 1999 the Cornish Stannary Parliament commenced a new direct action campaign they termed "Operation Chough". The organisation wrote to English Heritage ordering them to remove all signs bearing that title from sites in Cornwall by July 31. Over eleven months eighteen signs were removed from sites in Cornwall including Carn Euny, Chysauster, Pendennis Castle and Tintagel. The "Keeper of the Seal of the Stannary Parliament" wrote to English Heritage saying "The signs have been confiscated and held as evidence of English cultural aggression in Cornwall. Such racially motivated signs are deeply offensive and cause distress to many Cornish people". On January 18, 2002, at Truro Crown Court, three members of the group agreed to return the signs and pay £4,500 in compensation to English Heritage and to be bound over to keep the peace. In return, the prosecution dropped charges of conspiracy to cause criminal damage.[2]
Other claims
The organisation's website claims that the group has been active in seeking repayment of alleged over taxation on tin mined in Cornwall, and to have lodged documents with the European Court of Human Rights.
Overpayment invoice
The CSP sent an invoice to the Duchy of Cornwall for the sum of £20,067,900,000 claiming recovery of alleged overcharged taxation on tin production by the Duchy of Cornwall on May 15 2000. The claim was based on the higher taxation (or "coinage") rates levied on Cornish tin compared to that mined in Devon. In order to calculate the bill, historical production figures were derived from a privately published thesis of 1908.[3] The CSP document claims a racial motive for overcharging Celtic Cornwall.
European Court of Human Rights and European Court of Justice
The CSP website says that in April 2006 the group lodged a case with the European Court of Human Rights regarding the case for Cornwall, in respect of alleged violations of the European Convention of Human Rights. The issues relate to the lack of a statutory guarantee of equality before the law in the UK. Central to the Cornish Stannary Parliament's argument is the feudal position of the heir to the throne, the Duke of Cornwall, who they maintain, enjoys a plethora of special privileges and exemptions from the law (in Cornwall) which indirectly and directly discriminate against the indigenous Cornish. As of August 2007 the application is still going through the admissibility procedure of the ECHR.
In August 2007 the CSP applied to European Court of Justice to annul the decision of the Council of Europe to introduce a six-year Fundamental rights and citizenship programme because it did not incorporate the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).[4] [5]
Other Actions
- The CSP are campaigning, along with other Cornish organisations, for the Cornish to be recognised by the UK Government under the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.[6][7]
- The CSP are campaigning, along with Mebyon Kernow and other Cornish organisations, for the inclusion of a Cornish tick box on the 2011 Census. For the first time the Cornish were allocated the '06' census code for the 2001 Census but there have been claims that the actual number of people registering as Cornish would have been much higher if a Cornish option tick box had been included. Over 37,000 people claimed Cornish identity (which equates to 7% of the population of Cornwall) instead of choosing to write-in English or tick a box for British. The CSP claim that many Cornish people were unaware of the new option and the figures would have been much higher if the tick-box was available.[8]
See also
- List of topics related to Cornwall
- Cornwall (territorial duchy)
- Stannary Courts and Parliaments
- Directive 2000/43/EC on Anti-discrimination
External links
- Cornish Stannary Parliament
- Cornish ethnicity data from the 2001 Census (British Society for Population Studies Conference 2006)
- Cornish tick box petition
- TGG Kernow
- John Angarrack
- Cornish National Minority
- TINE Cornish Forum
- BBC news 18 January, 2002 - Historic signs case trio bound over
- Peter Symes Cornish Stannary Banknotes
- Operation Chough - London Guardian Jan 19th 2002
