The Russellville Democrat., 1880-11-18
A old Custom In Jersey.
London Globe.

London GloDe.
 There exists in Jersey, but there alone of all our Channel islands, 6 time hon. ored and interesting ceremonial, con corning which we venture to say the generality of readers are uninformed, outsiders being seldom or never invited to witness it. The very earliest records of the little island tell of It's practice; it was in full force and virtually at the be- ginning of the twelfth century; and ex- cept that nowadays it has been shorn of much of the pomp and circumstances which once made 1t sort of a pageant and added a finish and gloss to it's im- portance, it remains as useful and effica- cious in Queen Victoria's reign as it was in that of King John. The procedure to which we allude, and which time has been unable to change, is called in off, cial language"une visite royale." Whence it derives it's honorific title IS very ob- scure; possibly enough from some scion of the Duchy of Normandy, when Jersey belonged to that Province, having con ducted the proceedings in person, as well tor parade as for arbitration and pecun- iary emoluments. But for many a long century royalty has been typified only by the presence and authority of the chief insular magistrate, by the cooper ation of his brother Jurats or Judges, by his law advisers, and by some other at- taches of the Royal Court. On fixed day once in every six years, and gener- ally before wheat harvest, these officials meet the connectable and other munic- ipals of a selected parish near it's church, and, after certain examinations of finan- ces bearing upon the object of the visit, and the swearing in of dozen good men and true of the locality-as sine qua non there must be no tie of blood or marriage between them-and who are to act in the capacity of voyeurs G. e., discoverers of roadway and roadside lrregularities), proceed on a perambula- ton to those roads where it is presumed most faults of omission or commission may be hit upon.
 Led by the voyeurs and proceeded by le vicomte, the sheriff, who. in heraldic terms, has his supporters" the gentle men with the ax and measuring tape, the royal visitors pass into, say, a mar row shady lane. On either hand are tall hedges scarcely permitting a view ol yellow corn fields and fruit laden or chards; overhead are the thick leafy boughs of trees so arched and interlaced that hardly a ray of July sun struggles through. To most persons unacquainted with the habit of Jersey roads it seems that no flaw or imperfectlon can be de tected; but messieurs les voyeurs are sharper. Moving at funeral pace ahead, peering here and there, they presently call halt; that branch hangs too low; il is centalnly under the regulation of "dix pieds de hauteur." A report is made; le vicomte's staff can touch it, and so veri- fies the defective pitch. The bailli and his co-adjutors consult; the bough is doomed to the ax, but pending the lop- ping the renter or tenant, or owner oi the land, as the case may be, on which the tree is growing, is fined eighteen pence for his neglect or oversight; 'the law doth give it and the Court awards it." A little further on some over lux. uriant brambles, enticed by summer heat and moisture, have shot out badly from the hedge and project into the pathway Again standstill; again a report; again brief conference; again an order for the pruning knife, and again one-and-slx. pence fine for the careless master of the offending blackberry bush. A tree had been allowed to grow from the embark. ment, and it's trunk lessens the legal width of the lane. The same formulary is gone through; the ax marks it; It is ordered to be felled within given time or good many more pence than the aforesaid eighteen will be the amends mulcted from it's proprietor. At a par. ticular spot the road seems to the vigil. ant detectives to be curtailed of its fair proportions. Out come the yard meas. ure; by the bones of St. Hellerl yea, it is from two to three inches narrower than it ought to be. So the worthy on whose land the strait exists is booked by the Greffier as a gentle incentive to the future use of the spade, and as remind. CT of tune visite royale" to his demense