INTRODUCTION. 
N the north-western coast of France, within what is called the 
Bay of Saint Michel, or the Gulf of Avranches, there is a 
group of small islands which, notwithstanding their proximity 
to the French mainland, have been British possessions for more 
than eight hundred years. They belonged to France from the 
earliest times down to the year 887, when, on the cession of the 
province of Neustria, afterwards called Normandy, by Charles the 
Simple to Rollo, the first Duke, ancestor to William the Conqueror, 
these islands became part of the Duchy of Normandy. England 
lost all her other Norman possessions early in the thirteenth century, 
but King John managed to retain the Channel Islands, and they 
have ever since appertained to the British Crown. Our neighbours 
across the water speak of them as Les Iles Anglo-Normandes, or 
Les Iles de la Manche; but in the old French historians we find 
them designated Les Iles de Coutances, because up to the end of 
the sixteenth century they were comprised in the diocese of the 
Bishop of Coutances, on the opposite French coast. 
Although proud of their Norman origin, and bearing Norman 
names, many of which are prominent in the history of the eleventh 
and twelfth centuries, the people are thoroughly English in their 
sympathies and interests, and, as a matter of fact, nowhere in the 
world can be found more loyal and devoted subjects of the English 
Sovereign than the inhabitants of the Channel Islands. As Norman 
subjects they enjoy the ancient privileges which they held under the 
first Dukes of Normandy, and to these they naturally cling with 
great tenacity. The ancient Customary Law of Normandy, com- 
piled about the middle of the thirteenth century, still serves as the 
basis of the insular legislation; and no Act of Parliament is 
operative until it has been formally received and registered by the 
Royal Court. The local laws and regulations relating to land and 
real property in general are extremely curious, and very perplexing 
to an outsider. 
English is spoken everywhere, and is the common language of 
conversation among the townspeople and educated classes, who 
are, as a general rule, also thoroughly versed in French. In the 
rural districts a peculiar Jazods is commonly employed colloquially 
B 
