Personal transport on the Island is limited to foot, bicycle or horse drawn carriage. The use of tractors is limited by license to carriage of goods and for agriculture. 

The States of Guernsey run an excellent modern postal and telecommunications service.

The Parish Church is in the Anglican Deanery of Guernsey (Diocese of Winchester) and there is a Methodist Church. Visiting R C priests sometimes say Mass in summer.

There is no Mains water and houses depend on wells, bore-holes or roof catchment. There is no Mains drainage and houses drain to septic tanks or cesspits for which the householder is responsible for adequate maintenance (cesspit clearance is controlled by the island Public Health Committee).

Electricity is available at 240V AC. Houses are generally heated by solid fuel or oil boilers.  Bottled gas is available.   All energy resources are relatively expensive.

MEDICAL SERVICES: A General Practitioner/Medical Officer of Health is employed by Chief Pleas through the Medical Committee. He is supplied with a house and surgery free of charge and receives a retaining fee from the Island. He dispenses the medicines and makes a charge on his patients for consultation. He has normal surgery hours but is effectively on duty 24 hours a day. There is no National Health Service so all residents have to be members of a health insurance scheme.

A fully equipped tractor-drawn ambulance is on call at all times and the Order of St John runs a marine ambulance launch, stationed in Guernsey.

There is no dental practice on Sark.

EMERGENCY SERVICES: Emergency (999) calls are taken by the operator in Guernsey who logs the call and transfers the caller to the Guernsey Police, Guernsey Fire Station or St John Ambulance Brigade (Guernsey) according to need. These services then contact the equivalent Sark service by radio 'bleeper'. The call recipients return the call (in the case of the Fire service on a dedicated line) to the Guernsey service for details of the Emergency. The link is long but works quickly and well and guarantees a 24-hour-a-day service.

EDUCATION: Schooling is available from age 5 to 15 and although the Island can assist the education of local children in Guernsey or elsewhere beyond 15 it will not necessarily do so for newcomers. U.K. University and College Grants are not available to Channel Island residents.

RESIDENTIAL ACCOMMODATION: Tenure of property is complex. There is no true freehold, all land being held on perpetual lease (fief) from the Seigneur, and the 40 properties (Tenements) into which the Island is divided (as well as a few other holdings in perpetual fief) can only pass by strict rules of inheritance or by sale.   See under "Inheritance". 

By far the greater number of houses are leasehold and one or two of these come on the market from time to time and are usually advertised and sold through the Sark Estate Agent.  The relations of Landlord and Tenant are different from the U.K. and any prospective purchaser or lessee is strongly advised to consult a Guernsey Advocate familiar with Sark Law.

New building is limited to residents of at least fifteen years standing. Furnished accommodation in summer bungalows and chalets is sometimes available for the winter, but personal inspection is strongly recommended as what is suitable for the Sark summer can be very uncomfortable in winter.

There is no income tax but there is a small tax on capital and a property tax (equivalent to Rates in the U K). Income arising outside the Island may be subject to taxation at source and prospective residents are advised to consult a taxation expert. There are no Death Duties or Capital Transfer Tax but the inheritance laws, both for Real Estate and Personalty, are peculiar.

Simple servicing for electrical and other equipment is available but major repair work usually has to go to Guernsey.

SOME NOTES ON FEUDALISM

During the last century of the Roman Empire the taxation required to support the army became so great that to escape the tax man the peasantry put themselves into the hands of the big land owners. The land owners took their rent in kind so that with less money about there was less for the tax gatherer and ultimately the landowners left the town to administer their growing estates and ignored central authority.

Later, when the German war bands overran the West and settled on the land, they imposed their system of military allegiance to their war lord onto the land tenure system they found already in place.

The system evolved so that the peasant held his land in perpetuity from his local superior (Lord of the Manor) in return for a tithe on produce and/or for some free labour, and an obligation to military service for defence of the Fief or land holding. The Lord of the Manor held his lands from a local Lord or Baron under similar obligation and so on up to the King. Essentially feudalism was the replacement of law and money by obligation and tithe.

There was not the difference between freeholder and tenant as there is today or was in Roman times. Everyone held his land as a tenant, be he baron or peasant, for to keep it he had to render dues of some sort to his overlord. Provided he rendered his dues and service he could not be evicted and could pass the land on to his heirs.

The working of the system depended very much on the power of the King and the power and personality of the Barons but its great advantage was in its cheapness and effectiveness.

Feudalism started to decline at about the time of the Norman Conquest when there was a slow return of wealth and central government. However, military obligation in Europe lasted into the sixteenth century when weaponry and tactics necessitated a better trained and more professional army. The decline was much later in the Channel Islands, where smaller social units seem not to have required greater sophistication of government.