On her knees reciting medieval French, campaigning OAP puts brake on disputed roadworks
It’s certainly a far cry from the way planning objections are usually raised.
Pensioner Rosie Henderson fell to her knees in the street and made the impassioned plea: ‘Haro! Haro! Haro! A l’aide, mon prince, on me fait tort.’
then she recited the Lord’s Prayer in Norman French. the spectacle took place outside a block of flats being built in Guernsey – and Mrs Henderson was invoking a 1,000-year-old law dating back to the times of William the Conqueror.
And perhaps most surprisingly, all work on the site stopped immediately when she uttered the words – an appeal to the Duke of Normandy.
the Clameur de Haro is a Norman custom of ‘crying for justice’ in the Channel Islands by people who believe they are being wronged. It is still technically enforceable to protect property rights.
In English the clameur means: ‘Come to my aid, my prince, for someone does me wrong.’ Mrs Henderson, 70, a parish council official, was trying to halt a plan to narrow a road in st Peter Port to make way for a garden for the flats.
she claims the plan would endanger pedestrians and motorists.
she raised the clameur at 9am on tuesday, witnessed by supporters. Workers moved off the site temporarily before a judge rejected the ‘ clameur’ later in the day because Mrs Henderson does not own the land.
the pensioner said: ‘the clameur is sudden and absolute – the law states that when the clameur is raised all work must stop. I’ve always known about the clameur. Everyone in Guernsey knows about it, but it very rarely gets used. I wanted the work on this proposed eradication of highway to stop.
‘I want the case to be properly looked at and not just glossed over. It does not benefit anyone in the local area and it is endangering pedestrians’ mobility.’
Mrs Henderson is considering an appeal. she said: ‘ the point of law was that the “clameurant” has to own the land the wrong is being done to.
‘My opinion is that the land is owned by the states of Guernsey for the people of Guernsey and I am one of the people of Guernsey. the judge ruled that it didn’t meet the criteria of land ownership.’
No one knows for certain what ‘haro’ means. ‘My prince’ is believed to refer to the first Duke of Normandy. the duchy ceased to exist centuries ago so appeals are now heard by a court.
the clameur forms part of the common law of Guernsey and Jersey – which are not part of the UK but are Crown dependencies. It has been called the only instance in civil matters where a person is allowed to take the law into their own hands.
‘The law states that all work must stop’