Revived Cornish Stannary Parliament

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The Cornish Stannary Parliament is a pressure group which claims to be a revived Cornish Stannary Parliament. It was established in 1974 and had campaigned since then against the government of the United Kingdom's position on the constitutional status of Cornwall.

1 Declarations
2 Operation Chough
3 Other claims
- 3.1 Overpayment invoice
- 3.2 European Court of Human Rights
4 Other Actions
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Declarations

On 20 May, 1974 a pressure 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.^[1]

On June 24 at a meeting at which the stannators wore kilts of Cornish tartan, and at which the Cornish national anthem was played, the group proclaimed 18 articles or acts, including the claim to retain all taxes gathered in the Duchy, the declaration of St 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.^[2]

On 12 December 1974 the Home Office replied to the petition, saying that the Home Office could only accept elections by the stannary towns 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".

Also on 15 December it was announced that Frederick Trull, styled "clerk to the stannary", was to issue banknotes in four denominations.^[3]

Following an incident on February 26 1975 when Trull attempted to arrest the clerk and magistrate while being tried for a motoring offence at St Austell Magistrate's Court, he was found guilty of using threatening words and behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace on June 2, 1975. He produced twenty-five pages of documents in an attempt to prove that the court had no jurisdiction, but was fined, ordered to pay costs and bound over to keep the peace for 12 months.^[4] He was subsequently dismissed from his post as clerk and expelled from the organisation. The banknotes, which bore Trull's signature, were burnt.^[5]

The Cornish Stannary Parliament next hit the headlines in 1978, again at St Austell Magistrate's Court. Hambley had been charged with having failed to pay motor tax, and displaying the stannary seal in place of a tax disc. His defence was that he was exempt from the court's jurisdiction as he was a "privileged tinner", having staked out several acres of moorland with a view to working them for tin on land belonging to the lord-lieutenant of the county. After two and a half hours consultation the magistrates agreed they had no jurisdiction.^[6]. The following day a court in Bodmin adjourned a similar case sine die against Frederick Trull.^[7] On July 11, a specially convened stannary court, under the county court, declared that the lands Hambley claimed to have staked were already bounded, and ordered him to pay the landowners' costs.^[8] By the end of July over a hundred people were refusing to pay road tax in Cornwall, but a decision of the High Court gave the Home Office leave to quash the original magistrate's decision.^[9]

The Cornish Stannary Parliament's next large campaign was in 1989, and related to the introduction of the unpopular community charge or poll tax. They claimed that as the law imposing the charge had not been approved by the Stannary Parliament "all tin-miners and former tin-miners, all descendants of tin-miners, all shareholders in tin-mines and anyone who supplied equipment for tin-mining" were exempt from the tax. Shares were made available for sale in the Royal Cornish Consols United Tin Mines Cost Book Company at one pound each, the claim being that shareholders would not be liable for the charge. The company was owned by Frederick Trull, who had rejoined the group as its clerk.^[10] By March 1990 up to one and a quarter million applications for shares had been made. On March 22 the Department of Trade and Industry was granted an injunction in the High Court freezing the company's assets on the grounds that the company was not registered under the Companies Act 1985 and that Mr Trull was not authorised under the Financial Services Act 1986 to conduct investment business.^[11] On June 27 the company was placed in receivership, with shareholders potentially facing the payment of costs.^[12] On September 5 the receiver announced that Trull had vanished and that there was no trace of the estimated 1 million pounds paid by members of the public. ^[13] On October 12 Trull was found guilty of contempt by breaching High Court orders to stop issuing shares and for failing to disclose the whereabouts of the money. He was sentenced in his absence to six months imprisonment. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Harman, said "The matter may be based on a genuine belief by Mr Trull in the privileges of Cornish tin miners but has all the appearance of being a con trick." ^[14] On February 22 1991, Trull appeared before the High Court, and his sentence was reduced to three months and suspended for two years, on the condition that he undertook to help the Department of Trade and Industry recover the money invested by the public. Mr Trull's counsel, told the court that the money had gone to "the sharks of this world" and that Mr Trull was "fired not by dishonesty, but by obsessive belief in the Stannary laws". ^[15]^[16] Mr Trull remained clerk of the parliament and in November was again before the courts claiming the Bodmin magistrates had no jurisdiction to make orders for payment against him on behalf of Restormel Borough Council as a privileged tinner within the Stannaries of Cornwall. The case was finally settled against Mr Trull in 1994^[17]

[edit] 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.^[18] Over eleven months eighteen signs were removed from sites in the county 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 pounds in damages to English Heritage and to be bound over to keep the peace. In return, the prosecution dropped charges of conspiracy to cause criminal damage.

The case was unusual due to the enforced withdrawal of the judge, the resignation of the first three barristers, the change of the charge from "theft" to "conspiracy to commit criminal damage" and the introduction at a late stage of a Public Interest Immunity Certificate. On 19th January the London Guardian reported the case ^[19] and the Western Morning News published an in depth report. The next day BBC1 television invited the Cornish stannators to participate in an evening discussion programme regarding the case, which was accepted, but later the BBC withdrew the offer.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Overpayment invoice

According to their website 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.^[20] 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 undergraduate thesis of 1908.^[21] The CSP document claims a a racial motive for overcharging Celtic Cornwall.

[edit] European Court of Human Rights

The CSP website further claims 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.^[22]

[edit] 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.^[23]

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 actually 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 chosing 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.^[24]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Cornishmen show teeth in reviving a parliament, Trevor Fishlock, The Times, May 21, 1974
^ Why Cornishmen are nailing their colours to Magna Carta, Susanne Puddefoot, The Times October 26, 1974
^ Tinner's parliament plans coinage, The Times, December 16, 1974
^ Stannary Parliament man fined, the Times, June 3, 1975
^ Stannary clerk expelled and cash burnt, The Times, August 18, 1975
^ Ancient tin miners' parliament wins its challenge in a 1978 magistrate's court, The Times, June 16, 1978
^ Victories for Stannary Parliament seen as a giant leap for Cornwall, The Times, June 17, 1978
^ Cornishman may appeal over tin mining ruling, the Times, July 12, 1978
^ Court move to stop revolt over road tax, The Times, August 1, 1978
^ Charter of 1508 is cited; Poll tax challenge, The Times, August 29, 1989
^ Cornish poll tax rebel barred, The Times, March 23, 1990
^ Tin mine investors face costs; Royal Cornish Consols United Tin Mines Cost Book Company, The Times, June 28, 1990
^ 'Founder of firm that offered poll-tax immunity is missing', The Times, Sept 5, 1990
^ 'Tin mining "conman" is jailed for six months', The Times, October 13, 1990
^ Jail term suspended, The Times, February 23, 1991
^ Cornish tin men's reluctant farewell. The Times, February 27, 1991
^ No stannary rates exemption, The Times, June 20, 1994
^ Cornwall heritage warning, The Times, April 26, 1999
^ London Guardian Jan 19th 2002 - "How three Cornish men and a raid on King Arthur's castle rocked English Heritage"
^ CSP Tin Overcharge Invoice
^ G.R. Lewis, The Stannaries, a study of the medieval tin miners of Cornwall and Devon (11 Mb PDF document)
^ Letter to Council of Europe
^ CSP and Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities
^ CSP and Cornish tickbox for 2011 Census