British Islands
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For a list of British islands, see List of the British Isles.
Under the Interpretation Act 1978 of the United Kingdom, the term British Islands refers to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, together with the Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwicks of Jersey and of Guernsey (which in turn includes the smaller islands of Alderney, Herm and Sark) in the Channel Islands; and the Isle of Man. In previous times, particularly the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the term was sometimes used to refer to islands under British control, worldwide.
British Islands is now a legal term and is not in general usage. It is not to be confused with the term British Isles.
The phrase "British Islands - Bailiwick of Jersey" is used, for example, on Jersey passports, replacing "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" on the generally similar UK passport. (Both bear the inscription "European Union", although Jersey is in the customs union rather than the EU proper. A large proportion of Channel Islanders possess European Union citizenship by descent and are therefore entitled to EU passports - those Islanders with no inherited or acquired European Union citizenship have their passports stamped to this effect).
Manx passports have "European Union - British Islands - Isle of Man" written on them. The Isle of Man however is also not part of the EU.
