The () is an ancient legal

injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...

of restraint employed by a person who believes they are being wronged by another at that moment. It survives as a fully enforceable law to this day in the legal systems of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

and

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

, and is used, albeit infrequently, for matters affecting land.

History

The ' was used by landowner Asselin FitzArthur to object to the burial of

William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...

. According to Asselin, the church where the king was to be buried was built on land unlawfully seized from his family.

Procedure

The procedure is performed on one's knees before at least two witnesses, in the presence of the wrong-doer, and in the location of the offence. The ' with his hand in the air must call out — Following this, the ' must recite the Lord's Prayer in French. On hearing this, the alleged wrong-doer must cease his challenged activities until the matter is adjudicated in court. Failure to stop will lead to the imposition of a fine, regardless of which party is in the right. If the ' is found to have called ' without a valid reason, he in turn must pay a penalty. The ' in

requires that a grace be said after the Lord's Prayer: Furthermore, the grievance must be put in writing and lodged at the within 24 hours.

Limitations

' can be overruled. For instance, in 1778 the

States of Guernsey The States of Guernsey (), officially the States of Deliberation and sometimes referred to as the Government of Guernsey, is the parliament and government of the British Crown dependency of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the ...

decided to erect 15 loophole towers at various points on the coast to impede any French incursion on the island. Although most of the towers were built on the

commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

, or on public land above the high-water mark, three towers were to be built on private land. The States were of the opinion that the project was of such importance that if necessary they would exercise

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

, "notwithstanding any or any opposition whatsoever". A ' can also be denied by a court. In 2010, Guernsey's Deputy Bailiff denied a couple's attempt to invoke the ', in a potential eviction action by a bank that had lent the couple money to build a home.

Recent uses

The ' was raised in Guernsey in December 2016 to block the forcible removal of a derelict Kia Sportage from private land. Earlier that same year, a threat to use the ' was issued, in an effort to stop the redevelopment of a garden and war memorial in Guernsey. On 14 August 2018 local resident Rosie Henderson attempted to use the ' to stop the narrowing of the South Esplanade in

Saint Peter Port St. Peter Port () is a town and one of the ten parishes on the island of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is the capital of the Bailiwick of Guernsey as well as the main port. The population in 2019 was 18,958. St. Peter Port is a small tow ...

, Guernsey, which she said would be a danger to both pedestrians and motorists. The court refused to register her clameur, because she does not own the land in question. In 2021, it was used in Jersey as an attempt to prevent an eviction. The ' was ruled as having been raised incorrectly in court on the grounds that the person raising it had lost legal title to the property and it could not be used to block court officials carrying out a court order. In 2023, a Jersey woman invoked the ' to halt a parish worker from trimming trees overhanging a road which ran through her property. She contended that the road had been illegally widened and therefore, the trees belonged to her, not the parish. When the matter was adjudicated, the Royal Court found that the procedure had been raised incorrectly and fined the litigant £1000. Meanwhile, legal costs to the parish were estimated to amount to £70,000. In 2023, a Devon man invoked the ''clameur'' in Guernsey over the wrongful sale of his family home by a private interest who should have required his consent.

Notes

References

* * * Holden, Richard
Jersey Law Course: Civil Procedure
(Institute of Law, Jersey, 2011), chapter 23. *

External links

Jersey Citizens Advice BureauCriants, Clamerists and the Clameur de Haro in the Channel Islands
* {{Italic title Law of Jersey Bailiwick of Guernsey Normandy Judicial remedies Law of Guernsey