Court hearings at the end of the 18th century
18th century
Court hearings
The records of hearings before Jersey’s Royal Court of criminal cases (Poursuites criminelles) began to appear on the Jersey Heritage website in 2016. So far records covering the period from 1797 to 1802 are accessible, and they provide a fascinating insight into the work of the Court two centuries ago, and the type of offenders brought before it as well as the penalties handed out. The records are only accessible to those with an annual subscription to the online collection section of the site, or on a pay-per-view basis, but we have been taking a look at some of these early records to summarise the work of the court at the time for this article.
The court was presided over at this time by Lieut-Bailiffs Thomas Pipon or Nicolas Messervy, appointed by the Bailiff, Henry Frederick Carteret.
From 1665 to 1826 Jersey's Bailiffs were all non-resident. The role passed from father to son (and occasionally other close relatives) within the de Carteret family, but the majority had no personal involvement in island affairs and never visited. Their only connection with the island's administration was to appoint Lieut-Bailiffs to whom they delegated their responsibilities.
This Thomas Pipon, son of Josue, an earlier Lieut-Bailiff, was not the Advocate (son of Thomas) who compiled a collection of Jersey laws, which became known as the 1771 Code, and was rewarded by being made Attorney-General, and ultimately Jurat and Lieut-Bailiff. He succeeded his cousin and held office for a few months in 1801 before he died.
The two Thomas Pipons were fairly close cousins and both appear in the family tree linked at the bottom of this article. Little is known about Thomas, son of Josue, or Nicolas Messervy, who was the junior of the two Lieut-Bailiffs in the last five years of the 18th century.
Court records
The records are brief outlines of the cases brought before the court, listed in chronological order in large volumes. When cases were adjourned, there is a separate entry for each hearing, although not all repeat hearings appear to have been indexed on the Jersey Heritage website, so it can be difficult or impossible to follow thecases to their conclusion.
The records are handwritten in French, in a very stylised format, and often give few clues as to the seriousness of the offences committed or to the reasons for the sentences. Often the death penalty was imposed for what appear to be relatively minor offences by today’s standards.
This was the island’s only criminal court at the time – the Magistrate’s Court was not established until the 19th century – and even the most trivial offices were heard by the court, including matters which which it seems surprising were even considered to be criminal matters.
Unlicensed alcohol sales
By far the most common offence brought before the court at the end of the 18th century was selling alcohol without a licence.
A typical penalty for this offence was the fine of 100 livres imposed on Cornelius Prwal and his wife Anne, nee Le Dain, in May 1801.
La Rocco Tower
Since 1796 La Rocco tower had been under construction in St Ouen’s Bay as the last of the chain of round towers ordered before his death by Lieut-Governor General Conway to defend the island against French invasions.
Local masons and other workers were required to work on the construction, either at low rates of pay or for no reward, and this was understandably far from popular. Many refused point blank to work and others came up with a variety of excuses.
The result was that the Court was faced with a succession of cases brought on behalf of the military authorities against those who were refusing to work on the tower.
On 25 May 1799 Thomas Le Brocq, Pierre de Gruchy, Philippe Carrel, Thomas Martin, Charles Renouf, Jean Picot, Jean Vaudin, Josue Gruchy, Philippe Picot, Thomas Binet, Jean Cabot, Philippe Cabot, Jean Picot, Thomas Vaudin and Jean Pallot (how’s that for a group with traditional Jersey family names!), all masons, were each fined ten livres and ordered to turn up for work the following Monday.
Militia offences
At this time, with Napoleon yet to face defeat at Waterloo in 1815, the perceived threat of French invasion was high, and the island’s Militia and garrison regiment were on a state of high alert. The seriousness of the situation does not seem to have permeated to the rank and file, because the Court was called on to deal with case after case of Militiamen neglecting their duties, refusing to obey orders, being drunk while on guard duty, or simply refusing to pay fines imposed by the Militia heirarchy for various other misdemeanours.
Philippe Le Breton of the North Regiment was fined for drinking on duty; Methodist Minister Francois Le Baillaut for defaults regarding Militia service; Francois Baudains of the East Regiment for insulting a Vingtenier; Jean Cabot, a sergeant in the North Regiment, and Philippe Le Breton, Philippe Le Gros, Jean du Tot and Jean de Ste Croix, for drinking while armed; Edouard Remon, Chef de Garde at St Lawrence, and Edouard Norman, sentry, for irregularities in their duty; Charles Amy, Philippe Amy, Charles Le Brun, Philippe Rondel, Charles Cabot, Elie de Gruchy, of Trinity, and Jean Renouf and Edouard Nicolle of St Martin were charged with failing to attend exercises. On 16 April 1798 Jean Amy was brought before the Court for refusing to take part in a canon exercise. He claimed that there was little point in his attending because he already knew all there was to know about the subject.
Garrison soldiers
Members of the garrison were subject to military discipline for offences relating to their duties or committed on military property, but were brought before the Royal Court for offences committed in the wider community.
Even the most senior officers were not exempt and there is a record of Lieut-Col Lee of the 1st Batallion of the 85th Regiment being brought before the Court for imprisoning two men who had made a complaint about their treatment by his soldiers. Unfortunately the page scan does not match the item and we have not been able to discover exactly what had happened, nor the outcome.
Drunkenness among the garrison soldiers was a constant problem: Elizabeth Le Noble, wife of John Scott, was charged with encouraging soldiers of the Loyal Irish Fencibles to drink at her house near the barracks in St Ouen’s Bay.
Insubordination
Those in positions of authority do not appear to have been particularly thick-skinned, and there are numerous examples of men being brought before the Court for refusing to obey the orders of their superiors, or insulting them.
Jean Denis Chefdore, Officer de Banon in St Lawrence fell out with his Constable, Jean Luce, and was taken to Court for insulting him.
Charles Coutanche, a first lieutenant in the Militia company of Petit Rozel, was fined for disobeying the orders of Capt Le Touzel. It got more, serious, however, for Jean Hubert, a licensed butcher of St Saviour, was accused of addressing Thomas Pipon, Lieut-Bailiff, in an insolent manner, and Andrew Mackey, a stranger, committed the ultimate offence of insulting the King.
The Court record shows that he had ‘mal parlé de la personne sacrée de sa Majeste’ having on several occasions said: ”Damn the King” and ‘other seditious words’. He was sent to prison while the Court decided what to do with him, but there is no apparent record of the case being concluded.
Death penalty
It is well known that the death penalty was ordered much more frequently, and for a much wider range of offences, in the 19th century than the 20th, when it was finally abolished. But one unfortunate consequence of these Court records just embracing the bare details of the hearing, rather than the details behind the Court’s decisions, is that it is difficult to understand the reason behind the most severe of all penalties being dispensed in many cases.
Murders – and there were plenty of those at the time – invariably merited the death penalty. So did bestiality. Richard Smith, an Invalide Soldier, was sentenced to hang for this crime, which also brought Pierre Hacquoil before the Court.
But why once case involving robbery, or another of assault, merited the ultimate penalty is often far from clear.
Philip Bignell, a soldier of the 1st Battalion in the 9th Regiment was condemned for the robbery of the house of Jean Esnouf in St Clement on 26 April 1801.
Richard Hounsel, Thomas Bisson and Jean Deschamps used a copied key to open the door of the office of Mr Budd, who appears to have been an Army quartermaster, possibly at Fort Regent, on the night of 25/26 June 1797. They brok open his desk and stole ‘a considerable sum of gold and silver’ and were all three sentenced to hang.
Jacques Moisan, who had been informed on by Bisson and Deschamps for setting fire to the house of Elie Deslandes, which was partly burned down, was charged with murder and absconded. He was subsequently also sentenced to death.
Philippe de Ste Croix was accused of various crimes, including murder, and sentenced by a Grand Jury to hang.
Another Grand Jury imposed the same penalty on James Collings, Thomas Parbut, Geoirge Wally and Samuel Evans, soldiers of the Cheshire Fencibles, and Sgt James Hunter, for ‘stealing various items’ from a house in St Helier.
Had some of these crimes, murder excluded, been committed 50 years later when transportation to Australia had been introduced, the perpetrators might have escaped with their lives.
The process of carrying out the death sentences, at the public gallows on Westmount, was not without its complications. There is a record of Jean Brunelot, a carrier, being brought before the Court for refusing to take equipment needed for a hanging to the gallows.
Theft
Opportunistic thieves and burglars were frequently brought before the Court, although their offences did not always merit the death penalty.
On 26 September 1797 Jeanne Anquetil and Elizabeth Pallot were found guilty of setaling peas from Jean Collas’ field in Colomberie (now a completely built-up area of the town of St Helier). They were sentenced to a month in solitary confinement, with only bread and water in the last week.
Thomas Hareman, a soldier who stole 6lb of meat from a cart outside the magazine of Richard Henry Budd and then gave it to widow Elizabeth Brown, a hotel keeper, on the beach in exchange for gin, was dealt with by court martial, but Mrs Brown was ordered to appear before the Royal Court.
Marie Queree, wife of Philippe Alexandre, was accused of stealing a goose from Anne Simon in St John. The Court was always pleased to see the back of offenders in one way or another. Michael Dawlen, who was tried for stealing from a shop in St Brelade belonging to Jean Nicolle, was sentenced to be flogged and banished.
Nicolas Potter, son of Philip, was accused of stealing planks from the Quay by the Constable, Elie Durell. He escaped punishment by enlisting in the Navy.
Women offenders
Although the majority of offenders brought before it were male, the court was much concerned with public morals, and women accused of prostitution, and other offences appear frequently in the records.
On 7 June 1799 Sarah Allet, wife of William, and Amelia Dwyer, wife of Samuel, were accused of leading a life of debauchery, a different way of saying prostitution. Both were wives of soldiers and were accused of living a ‘vie debauche et scandaleuse’ and causing a disorder at the house of Jean Mallet.
Dwyer had already been warned by the court the previous year and ordered to live with her husband. The women were ordered to leave the island within 15 days and not visit Mollet’s house in the meantime.
Ann Baker and her daughter Marguerite Pratt were accused of having a house of debauchery at St Martin.
Mere adultery was also treated as a crime and Patgrick Linard, Invalide soldier and Elizabeth Perrier, wife of Jean Langlois, were charged with ‘leading a scandalous life together’. It was not just the rank and file who offended, because John Williams, Lieutenant in the 88th regiment, was accused of sleeping with the wife of Jean Le Brun and assaulting him with a weapon in St Peter.
Traffic offences
Jean de Ste Croix, Jean Alexandre, Philippe Sohier, Jean Le Rossignol, Louis Le Preveu and Jean Cabot were charged with placing pillars outside their premises on Rue des Sablons, St Helier. Perhaps they were just trying to protect their property from poor drivers, because long before the arrival of the motor car required the enactment of a Road Traffic Act by the States, the Court was dealing with driving offences.
George de la Mare, a stranger, was brought to court for driving the cart of Elie Gaudin, son of Jean, while drunk in the parish of St Martin – and Elie Gaudin did not escape justice either, because he was accused of allowing his cart to be being driven in an unfit state by de la Mare.
Jeanne Le Maistre, widow of Abraham Trachy, was charged on 24 May 1800 with leaving her cart in St Aubin’s Road in a manner which caused an obstruction to other road users ‘et nuisible aux paysans’ – literally ‘harmful to the peasants’. Was this Jersey’s first parking offence?
Sunday infractions
Sunday was a day given over to church service and Militia drills, and woe betide anyone caught doing anything else. Philippe Le Bailly, Josue Godfray and Philippe Romeril went fishing on 4 February 1798 and found themselves in Court. They were remanded in custody, but we have yet to ascertain the outcome of the case.
French immigrants Yves l’Aveont and Noel Pregeant may not have been aware of how sacred the Sabbath was in Jersey because they found themselves charged with playing the violin, dancing and drinking on a Sunday. The offence was not committed in public, but at the house of Daniel Le Breton, where they lodged. He was brought to Court with them for permitting the offence.
Apparently there had been a party for a number of people on 20 May 1798, the violin and other instruments had been played and alcohol was served, and the Court heard that it amounted to a ‘’grand scandal du public’’. The offenders were ordered to be brought before the Court and after three hearings they were let off with a warning.
Family disputes
Sara Fiott, widow of Jean Gedeon Morin and tuteur of Jean Morin, her son, were charged with refusing to shoot her dog, which had killed a lamb belonging to Pierre Bishop.
Perhaps the same Sara Fiott, and her sister Rachel, found themselves before the Court over some unspecified family dispute with their mother Sara de Ste Croix. The sisters were ordered to be of good behaviour, and their mother to leave her home within 24 hours and give the keys to Jacques Hemery.
Thomas de la Haye found himself being tried by a Grand Jury for refusing to give his mother Esther Le Riche utensils for dyeing.
Elizabeth Le Gresley of St Peter was charged with bad conduct and inability to support herself and her children in St Mary.
Prison
It could be an offence to be in the island, or to be absent. William Mahy, a native of Guernsey, was charged with failing to leave the island; Edouard Le Maistre, gaoler and Chef de la Prison, was charged with being absent without permission.
After two of his prisoners, Philippe Amy and Richard Smith, escaped from their cell into the women’s cells, there was a report to the court requiring the prison to be made more secure and repairs carried out.
An unconnected recommendation by the Deputy Viscount that prisoners’ rations be increased from six to nine sous was approved. This was clearly not enough to prevent Jeanne Fauvel, nee Le Rossignol, from passing items to her son Jean through a prison window.
Unusual offences
The records contain reports of a wide range of extremely unusual offences, or at least so they seem to us today.
- Jeanne Susanne Alexandre, nee Anderley, a widow, was charged on 25 June 1798 with disguising herself as a man.
- An early example of a ‘health and safety’ offender was Josue Aubin, a butcher, who was found by the meat market inspector smoking a pipe in the meat hall. He said that his pipe was not lit, but the inspector said that he saw smoke and this was the third time he had caught Aubin smoking.
- Mr Brockhouse, a ‘stranger’ was accused of acting suspiciously and intending to preach Methodism.
- Josue Billot and his son were accused of causing great damage to the house of Jean Geffrard while quarrying.
- Lieutenant Charles James Barrow, Major Michael Chadwick, a surgeon, and Captain John Edward Lee, of the 69th Regiment, were accused of the murder of James Hagan as a result of a duel.
- Philippe Bertram, the master of the packet ‘’Charlotte’’ was brought before the court for failing to inform authorities about a passenger.
- Jean Collas, the 11-year-old son of Philippe, was accused of shooting Henry and Elizabeth Nicolle, children of Jean.
- Immigrants Jean Emmanuel du Pont and Louis Feron were charged with storing bales of wool at the house of Nicolas Pipet in Rue de St Aubin.
- Clement Laffolley was charged with collecting vraic before sunrise.
- Marie Baleyne, wife of Thomas Pipon, was charged with disturbing the church service in St Peter by wearing wooden pattens. These were wooden outdoor overshoes, meant to be worn over ordinary shoes.
- William Matthews was fined for removing gravel and stones from the beach.
- Jean Le Vesconte, Centenier of St Mary was charged with possession of a dangerous dog.
- William John Bell, a stranger, was charged with causing the death of Philippe Thoreau through treatment of his illness.
- St Saviour’s Roads Inspectors were brought to Court for refusing to show their accounts to the Roads Committee.
But perhaps the most bizarre of all matters to be brought before a criminal court was the representation of Catherine Pipon, on behalf of her mother Elizabeth de Quetteville, who objected to the Roads Committee's intention to abolish Rue des Alleurs in St Martin. The outcome of the case is unknown but it appears that the objection found support, because there are two Rue des Alleurs in the parish today, one at Faldouet and one at Rozel.
