- For the album by Pearl Jam see Riot Act (album).
- For the Japanese Xbox 360 game see Crackdown.
The Riot Act (1 Geo. 1, c. 5) of 1714 was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain introduced to allow the local authorities to declare a group of more than twelve people to be unlawfully assembled, and thus have to disperse or face punitive action. The Act, whose long title was "An act for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies, and for the more speedy and effectual punishing the rioters", came into force on August 1, 1715, and remained on the statute books in the United Kingdom until its repeal in 1973. This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that bodys existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707. ...
This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that bodys existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707. ...
This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that bodys existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707. ...
This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the English Parliament during that bodys existence prior to the Act of Union of 1707. ...
This is a list of Acts of Parliament of the Scottish Parliament. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Ireland for the years up to its dissolution in 1800. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1707-1719. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1720-1739. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1740-1759. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1760-1779. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain for the years 1780-1800. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1801-1819. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1820-1839. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1840-1859. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1860-1879. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1880-1899. ...
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This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1920-1939. ...
This is an incomplete list of Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the years 1940-1959. ...
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This is a list of Acts of the Scottish Parliament. ...
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This is a list of Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly passed by that body during its existence between 2000 and 2002 when it was suspended. ...
The is a list of Orders in Council for Northern Ireland which are primary legislation for the province when the it is being directly ruled from London and also for those powers not devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly. ...
Statutory Instruments (SIs) are parts of United Kingdom law separate from Acts of Parliament which do not require full Parliamentary approval before becoming law. ...
Pearl Jam is a Grammy Award-winning American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington. ...
Riot Act is Pearl Jams seventh studio album, released on November 12, 2002. ...
The Xbox 360 is the successor to Microsofts Xbox video game console, developed in cooperation with IBM, ATI, Samsung and SiS. Information on the console first came through viral marketing campaigns and it was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detailed launch and game information divulged...
Look up Crackdown in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Look up Act on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Act may refer to: in law, a written document that attests the legality of the transaction. ...
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ...
The long title (properly, the title) is one of the parts, together with the short title, and the operative provisions (sections and Schedules), which comprise an Act of Parliament or Bill in the United Kingdom and certain other Commonwealth Realms. ...
Coming into force refers to the date and process by which legislation, or part of legislation, comes to have legal force and effect. ...
August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ...
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Introduction and purpose
The Riot Act was introduced during a time of civil disturbance in Great Britain. The preamble makes reference to many rebellious riots and tumults [that] have been [taking place of late] in divers parts of this kingdom, adding that those involved presum[e] so to do, for that the punishments provided by the laws now in being are not adequate to such heinous offences.
Main provisions
Proclamation of riotous assembly The act created a mechanism for certain local officials to make a proclamation ordering the dispersal of any group of more than twelve people who were "unlawfully, riotously, and tumultuously assembled together". If the group failed to disperse within twenty minutes, then anyone remaining gathered was guilty of a felony without benefit of clergy, punishable by death. For the record label, see Felony Records The term felony is a term used in common law systems for very serious crimes, whereas misdemeanors are considered to be less serious offenses. ...
In English law, the benefit of clergy was originally a provision by which clergymen could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead under canon law. ...
The proclamation could be made in an incorporated town or city by the Mayor, Bailiffs or "other head officer", or a Justice of the Peace. Elsewhere it could be made by a Justice of the Peace or the Sheriff or Under-Sheriff. It had to be read out to the gathering concerned, and had to follow precise wording detailed in the act; several convictions were overturned because parts of the proclamation had been omitted, in particular "God save the King."[citation needed] A mayor (from the Latin mÄior, meaning larger, greater) is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer. ...
A Bailiff in a United States courtroom Bailiff (from Late Latin bajulivus, adjectival form of bajulus) is a governor or custodian; cf. ...
A Justice of the Peace (JP) is a puisne judicial officer appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. ...
Look up Sheriff in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The wording that had to be read out to the assembled gathering was as follows:
- Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God Save the King.
Consequences of reading the proclamation If a group of people failed to disperse within twenty minutes of the proclamation, the act provided that the authorities could use force to disperse them. Anyone assisting with the dispersal was specifically indemnified against any legal consequences in the event of any of the crowd being injured or killed.
Because of the free-ranging powers that the act granted, it was used both for the maintenance of civil order and for political means. A particularly notorious use of the act was the Peterloo Massacre of 1818. Print of the Peterloo Massacre published by Richard Carlile Peterloo Massacre of August 16, 1819 was the result of a cavalry charge into the crowd at a public meeting at St Peters Fields, Manchester, England. ...
Other provisions The act also made it a felony punishable by death without benefit of clergy for "any persons unlawfully, riotously and tumultuously assembled together" to cause (or begin to cause) serious damage to places of religious worship, houses, barns, and stables.
In the event of buildings being damaged in areas that were not incorporated into a town or city, the residents of the hundred were made liable to pay damages to the property owners concerned. Unlike the rest of the act, this required a civil action. In the case of incorporated areas, the action could be brought against two or more named individuals. A hundred is an administrative division, frequently used in Europe and New England, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller geographical units. ...
Prosecutions under the act were restricted to within one year of the event.
Subsequent history of the Riot Act in the UK and other countries The Riot Act drifted into disuse, and was eventually repealed in the UK by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1973 (by which time riot was no longer punishable by death).
The Riot Act caused unfortunate confusion during the Gordon Riots of 1780, when the authorities felt uncertain of their power to take action to stop the riots without a reading of the Riot Act. After the riots, Lord Mansfield observed that the Riot Act did not take away the pre-existing power of the authorities to use force to stop a violent riot; it only created the additional offense of failing to disperse after a reading of the Riot Act. The Gordon Riots is a term used to refer to a number of events in a predominantly Protestant religious uprising in London aimed against the Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1778, relieving his Majestys subjects, of the Catholic Religion, from certain penalties and disabilities imposed upon them during the reign...
As an act of the British Parliament, the Riot Act passed into the law of those countries that were then colonies of Great Britain, including the North American colonies that would become the United States. World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ...
In many common-law jurisdictions, a lesser disturbance such as an affray or an unruly gathering may be deemed an unlawful assembly by the local authorities, and ordered to disperse. Failure to obey such an order would typically be prosecuted as a summary offence. The common law forms a major part of the law of those countries of the world with a history as British territories or colonies. ...
In law, the affray is the fighting of two or more persons in a public place to the terror (in French: Ã leffroi) of the lieges. ...
Canada In Canada, the Riot Act has been incorporated in a modified form into ss. 32-33 and 64-69 of the Criminal Code. The proclamation is worded as follows: The Canadian Criminal Code (formal title An Act respecting the Criminal Law) is the codification of most of the criminal offences and procedure in Canada. ...
- Her Majesty the Queen charges and commands all persons being assembled immediately to disperse and peaceably to depart to their habitations or their lawful business, on pain of being guilty of an offence for which, on conviction, they may be sentenced to an imprisonment for life. God Save the Queen!
Unlike the original Riot Act, the Criminal Code requires the assembled people to disperse within half-an-hour, and substitutes punishment by death with life imprisonment.
Australia Acts similar to the Riot Act have been enacted in some (if not all) Australian states. For example, in Victoria, The "Unlawful Assemblies and Processions Act" (1958) allows a magistrate to disperse a crowd with the words (or words to the effect of): - Our Sovereign Lady the Queen doth strictly charge and command all manner of persons here assembled immediately to disperse themselves and peaceably depart to their own homes. God save the Queen.
Anyone remaining after 15 minutes may be charged and imprisoned for only one month (first offence) or three months (repeat offence). The Act does not apply to crowds gathered for the purpose of an election.
The same Act allows a magistrate to appoint citizens as "Special [Police] Constables" to disperse a crowd, and provides indemnity for the hurting or killing of unlawfully assembled people in an attempt to disperse them.
United States The principle of the Riot Act was incorporated into the first Militia Act (1 Stat. 264) of May 8, 1792. The act's long title was "An act to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions". May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ...
1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
Section 3 of the Militia Act gave power to the President to issue a proclamation to "command the insurgents to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within a limited time", and authorized him to use the militia if they failed to do so. Substantively identical language is presently codified at chapter 15 of title 10, United States Code. See 10 U.S.C. §§ 331-35 (2006). The presidential seal was first used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ...
Belize The Central American country of Belize, another former British colony, also still retains the principle of the Riot Act; it was last read on January 21, 2005, during the 2005 Belize unrest. Map of Central America Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. ...
January 21 is the 21st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
An encounter between protesters and riot police in Belmopan on January 21. ...
"Read the Riot Act" Because the authorities were required to read the proclamation that referred to the Riot Act before they could enforce it, the expression to read the riot act entered into common language as a phrase meaning "to reprimand severely". The phrase remains in everyday use in English despite the fact that the act itself has long since passed into history.
See also The Black Act (9 Geo. ...
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