Community Assembly Foundation

The peoples of Kernow occupy a constitutionally distinct position from the peoples of England as issued under Natural Law and Equity as Conscience

In 2014 the UK Government formally recognised the Cornish (Kernowan) peoples as a national minority under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities acknowledging a distinct language, culture and constitutional history predating the Norman settlement.



Kernow has never at any time consented to absorption under the Westminster Parliament nor under an English King The first King of England known as Æthelstan  fixed the boundary between Cornwall and the newly created Wessex at The Tamar. The Community Assembly of the British Isles, have already registered the ancient, original territory of Kernow which existed prior to 936 and which included Devon, Somerset, Dorset of Dorset and Wiltshire. This is registered with the International Irish Brotherhood who register all boundaries of indigenous lands around the world.

The Stannary Parliament exercised self-governing authority over the Cornish people through customs and institutions that predated the creation of Westminster. Community values and management were established pre 900 with shires, the 100 and the Kernow jury system).

The Cornish Rising and Prayer of 1497 gathered men from Devon and Somerset where they were joined by noblemen to petition London against taxes being imposed on them by England as part of a forced loan, which seriously affected the productive tin miners in Kernow (they exported large quantities of tin to England) . Their intention was for the King to replace his chief advisors and taxation policy. The Cornish also included their grievance regarding attempts to interfere with their Stannery Parliament. The complaint was answered by force at the Battle of Deptford Bridge and not by a lawful constitutional instrument.

The subsequent Charter of Pardon in1508 returned the lands from seizure after settlement of the excessively large penalty fine (for an alleged ‘invasion’) and removed the temporary ‘occupation’ of Cornwall.

The Stannary Parliament has never at any time been abolished through any valid constitutional process. It simply ceased to sit. Disuse is not abolition. This right continues to this day and has never been lawfully extinguished.

The Duchy of Cornwall title was established in 1337 is a title and landed endowment only and was conferred on the first prince of any incumbent monarch in England. It did not transfer ownership of Cornish territory or create any right to govern its people.

Westminster has never obtained the informed consent or ratification of the peoples of Kernow for its claimed legislative authority over them as a distinct people. All searches in Hansard (Parliamentary records) attest this several times over the years.

The Battle of Deptford Bridge — initiated by the King - who slew many Cornish protestors – was not carried out by any lawful constitutional instrument.

Force is not consent. Force cannot create the obligation that genuine consent and ratification would establish. That principle is as recognisable today as it was in 1497  wherever one entity imposes burdens upon another without agreement, that imposition is understood as external authority, not lawful obligation.

At the present time, there are moves afoot within Cornwall to resist a Unitary Authority-Mayoral Representative and instead seem galvanised to action to declare   Cornwall as having the same status as Wales and Scotland. 

This effort has arisen subsequent to The Community Assembly first declared its resurrection of the Stannery system of Kort and Parliament in March 2024. 

Legislation does not bind a living being merely by force of Parliament. Before legislation can reach the living being, the necessary chain must exist:  There is the legal person addressed by the statute, a living agent appointed through valid contract and a transfer of beneficial interest through a valid instrument.

Where those instruments do not exist, the statute addresses only the legal person and goes no further.

For the peoples of Kernow there is an additional and prior layer. Westminster's authority to legislate for Kernow as a distinct constitutional people has never been established through any consent of the people nor by any act. This is not merely the individual trust position of a living being. It is the collective constitutional position of a recognised national minority with a pre-existing governance structure that Westminster has never lawfully absorbed.

As Blackstone stated:

"The law of nature is superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this."



Westminster legislation purporting to bind the peoples of Kernow without consent, ratification, or engagement with their pre-existing constitutional framework has no foundation in natural law. It may be enforced by force. Force is not law.

The peoples of Kernow are living beings standing under natural law and equity as conscience.

They receive Westminster legislation as unratified and not accepted into practice.

They challenge its reach on the basis that it is addressed to legal persons associated with them and not to them as living beings and that no instruments exist to carry it further:

No agency contract, no instrument transferring beneficial interest, no informed consent of the governed and no constitutional ratification by the peoples of Kernow.

Until those instruments are produced, Westminster's claimed authority addresses the legal person and stops there.

That position is held openly, on the record, on conscience, under natural law and equity as conscience and by a people whose constitutional identity was never lawfully absorbed and whose governance structures were never lawfully extinguished.

Issued under Natural Law and Equity as Conscience On behalf of the peoples of Kernow

The idea of a Community Assembly was first introduced in 2019, and in May 2020 the first Community Assembly of Cornwall was formed.

During the following year, it was proposed that the Regional Assembly should be called the Community Assembly of Kernow. However, this was later reconsidered when we recognised that, prior to 936 AD, Kernow encompassed Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset.

By late 2023, it had become clear that the structure of the Community Assembly of Kernow needed to be modified to accommodate the increasing number of Community Assemblies forming throughout the British Isles. From this development, the Community Assembly of the British Isles was born.

It was also clear that the organisation of the Community Assembly of Cornwall needed to recognise and incorporate the history of both Cornwall and Kernow. The Duchy opposed the use of the ‘stannery’ name but the ideals and structures could still be adopted. The first of these was the concept of the Twenty-Four as the name for the Stannery Parliament.

At the same time, the People’s Assemblies of New Zealand requested that they become part of the formation of the resurrection of the old judicial system with the new title ‘kort ownder’. An agreement setting out the proposed operating procedures was drawn up and approved. The agreement was also approved with Australia and America.

A meeting of the Twenty-Four representatives of Cornwall was organised for 2 March 2024 to consider and develop a way forward for the Territory of Kernow. Discussions with the keepers of the Stannary Parliament and Stannary Courts led to the proposal that we retain the names Community Assembly of Cornwall and Community Assembly of Kernow, while adopting the name Kort Ownder, meaning “Court of Fairness”, to replace the name Stannary Court.

Ten years after the Westminster Parliament was compelled to recognise the Cornish people as a national minority, we decided to approach the Irish Republican Brotherhood to register the Territory of Kernow comprising Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset as an indigenous people and to reclaim our status from before 936 AD.

The Irish Republican Brotherhood had maintained a list of worldwide indigenous peoples since 1919. The application was submitted and accepted on 28 September 2024. Under the same agreement, the Kort Ownder was paired with the Sovereign Dáil Éireann Courts.

On 22 August 2026, the members of the Community Assembly of Devon claimed their jurisdiction, having reached 300 members. They petitioned the Community Assembly of Cornwall to join both the system of the Twenty-Four and the Kort Ownder judicial system.

On 25 August 2026, the Community Assembly of South Yorkshire also claimed its jurisdiction, having reached 300 members. It similarly petitioned the Community Assembly of Cornwall to join the system of the Twenty-Four and the Kort Ownder judicial system.

On 5 September 2026, at a meeting of the Cornish Twenty-Four, the applications from both the Community Assembly of Devon and the Community Assembly of South Yorkshire were formally considered. Their applications to join the system of the Twenty-Four and the Kort Ownder judicial system were put to a vote and the resolution passed.