However, following an appeal for leniency from Advocate Luke Steel, appointed to represent the ‘defence’ at the Visite Royale, Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq advised the parish to take all measures to save the English oak on La Marquanderie Hill.
‘We would like the parish to take the advice of the States department with responsibilities for trees in order to see if it would be possible to cut it back or pollard it,’ he said.
If it had to be felled, he added, the work should not be carried out ‘when the tree was being used for nesting purposes or the rearing of young’.
The Royal Court for yesterday’s Visite Royale consisted of Mr Le Cocq and the Island’s Jurats accompanied by Attorney General Robert MacRae, Deputy Viscount Mark Harris and arpenteur publique Chris Aubin – an official land measurer for the Royal Court.
They convened at St Brelade’s Parish Hall in the presence of Constable Mike Jackson, parish Rector the Rev Mark Bond, the roads inspectors and ‘voyeurs’ – parishioners selected to raise issues to be put before the court.
Mr Le Cocq and the Jurats, resplendent in their traditional red regalia, sat below the list of former Constables of St Brelade, emblazoned in gold leaf and beginning in 1527 with Brélade Alexandre, who no doubt during his time in office officiated at a Visite Royale.
The origins of this bi-annual occasion are lost in the mists of time but the first records of the Visite date back to the 14th century and, as with much of Jersey’s law and customs, have their roots in the Duchy of Normandy, of which the Island was a part until 1204.
Having examined the parish’s accounts for 2018 and the estimated budget for the coming year, the court and parish officials set off in a convoy of vehicles, led by official limousines to view the tree and consider issues relating to land ownership.
The first stop came before the vehicles had had a chance to change to fourth gear, outside St Brelade’s College on Mont Les Vaux.
The matter for consideration was a significant section of roadside bank – which had been formed when the road was built in 1865 – between the college to the hairpin bend below the former Shell House site.
Parish rapporteur Julian Bernstein, competing against the engine noise of two double-decker buses en route to the Airport, explained that the parish wanted to establish who owned, and was therefore responsible, for the land.
Mr MacRae advised that the issue of title of land ownership was a complex matter and one that could not be considered by a Visite Royale, so the parish was advised to seek its own legal advice.
The third and final stop was at Ouaisné for another case of disputed land ownership dating back 30 years.
‘This is a similar set of circumstances to the first item of the Visite,’ Mr Le Cocq said. ‘And the Visite Royale is not in a position to make a recommendation on [land] title.’
The Visite over, Mr Le Cocq invited Mr Bond to join the court officials for lunch at The Atlantic Hotel, while the parish party headed back to St Aubin for their midday repast – but fortunately not in the nearby restaurant where an Asian hornets nest was discovered on Tuesday.
