A Short History of the Cornish Constitutional Position

According to some (such as Wikipedia), the Cornish stannary system was no more than a means to organise the extraction of tin and send the resulting taxation to the Crown, but this is not correct (keep reading). Crucially, it does not take into account the eventual pervasive influence of the Stannary system over most parts of Cornish society or its symbolic importance to sentiments of Cornish independence. Eventually, although matters of life and limb, and some matters of property remained the jurisdiction of the same court system that operated across England and Wales, many other matters were settled by the Stannary Courts, and legislated through its Parliament on behalf of the Duchy of Cornwall, rather than the Crown of England and Wales.

After the Norman invasion in 1066, the precious metal, tin, became increasingly important to the English treasury, resulting in the mines of the Cornish speaking areas Cornwall and West Devon being double-taxed through a system called coinage. Until the mid C16, Cornwall was called Cornovia or Cornubia, rather than Anglia (England) and shown as such in documents and on maps. The institution of the Stannaries was first recognised in 1201, when tinners were recognised as being exempt from taxation and legally governed by the Lord Warden of the Stannaries, effectively creating a separate legal jurisdiction. [1]

Under the Stannary Charter of 1305, the Stannary Courts formally acquired the right to settle legal disputes, and in 1337, the Duchy of Cornwall was created. It must not be understated that all of Cornwall came under the jurisdiction of the Stannary Parliament, not just miners, and the Charter explicitly stated that the whole of Cornwall was ultimately governed by the Duchy of Cornwall. In effect, Cornwall had become a palatine state, no longer under the institutional jurisdiction of the Crown where the Duke acquired sovereign powers.[2] More recently, legislation passed by Westminster still makes specific reference to Cornwall, Scilly, or the Duchy of Cornwall, or address territorial issues, such as the Cornwall Submarine Mines Act 1858, Tamar Bridge Act 1957, and Duchy of Cornwall Management Act 1982.

In the present era, some advocates of devolution for Cornwall make use of the historic position as a further point in favour of modern devolution, whilst others take an opposite view, claiming no modern day relevance to the devolution case, or that it the importance of the Duchy and Stannaries is overstated.

Homework question: To what extent is the historical position of the Duchy and Stannaries is relevant to present day sentiment and a future constitutional settlement for Cornwall?

[1] https://www.cornwallforever.co.uk/history/cornish-stannaries

[2] https://www.moonfishwriting.com/post/cornwall-land-of-the-english-celts