The Parish and Community of Castel, Guernsey

Parish Representatives

Who are they:-

The original representatives of the parishioners, were the 'Doziners' - a word of Latin origin which is defined in Dr. Lytleton's Latine Dictionary (2nd Edtn. pub 1703) as a man who was elected by, and to represent a dozen free families - today's Douzeniers.

The Douzeniers used to 'deputise' one of their number to represent their views at the central 'States' or gathering of the representatives of all the Guernsey Estates. To this day the Douzaine still elect annually one of their number to be the Douzaine 'Rep'.

The Constables as the Crown representative in the parish also used to have a seat in the 'States', but sadly as a result of 'progress' this no longer happens in Guernsey. (It does, however, in Jersey.)

The Rectors of the ancient parishes also had a seat in the 'States' - but since electoral reform, this is no longer the case.

Finally, since a number of reforms to the constitution of the island, there are now a number of 'deputies' elected for each parish - depending to a large extent on the number of electorate in that parish. (Shades here of the Douzaine deputising one of their number to represent the views of the parish)

The Castel Parish presently has 7 Deputies to represent the electorate, in addition to the Douzaine Representative, and these between them represent a population of about 9000.

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