Residents of the Channel Islands have the legal right to call for help on a noble man who died more than 1 000 years ago. The noble man was Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy who died in 932.
People can invoke the right by falling on their knees in the presence of witnesses shouting ‘Haro, haro, haro, à l’aide Mon prince; on me fait tort’ (Haro, haro, haro, help, my lord; I am being wronged); and then reciting the Lord’s Prayer in French.
The Clameur de Haro, as the law is known was used as recently as 1950 to stop the local water board from digging up the road outside the home of a Guernsey resident.
Once the cry has been made, the work in dispute must be stopped for 12 months so that the issue can be settled in court. If the work is not stopped, the offender can be imprisoned for 24 hours in a castle dungeon – as can a citizen who raises the cry wrongfully.
Notes
Situated just off the coast of France on the edge of the English Channel, the beautiful Channel Islands, a British Crown dependency since 1066, are fiercely independent and justifiably proud of their history and traditions.
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