Crown Dependency

There are three Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey (which itself includes Alderney and Sark), and the Isle of Man. They are not sovereign states, nor are they constituent parts of the United Kingdom, nor British Overseas Territories. Instead, they are possessions of the Crown with their own legislatures, legal systems, courts, fiscal policies, and immigration rules.

Each dependency has a long constitutional history predating the modern UK. The Channel Islands' link to the Crown traces back to 1066, when they were part of the Duchy of Normandy retained by the English Crown after the loss of mainland Normandy in 1204. The Isle of Man's Tynwald claims to be one of the oldest continuously sitting parliaments in the world. Jersey's legislature is the States Assembly; Guernsey's is the States of Deliberation.

Key features of the relationship:

• Legislation: Each dependency makes its own laws; UK Acts of Parliament do not normally extend to them unless explicitly stated and requested.
• Foreign affairs and defence: Conducted by the UK government on their behalf, though the dependencies increasingly sign their own agreements on tax and trade matters under "entrustment" letters.
• Royal Assent: Granted by the monarch via the Privy Council, not the UK Parliament.
• EU status: The dependencies were never EU member states. Under Protocol 3 to the UK's 1972 Accession Treaty they had a limited relationship with the EU customs union; this ended with Brexit on 31 January 2020.
• Citizenship and currency: Residents are British citizens; each issues its own banknotes pegged to sterling.

The Ministry of Justice is the lead UK department for managing the constitutional relationship. The dependencies are frequently discussed in debates about tax transparency, having featured in the Panama Papers (2016) and Paradise Papers (2017) leaks.