Public Order Act 1986

The Public Order Act 1986^[1]
Dates
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to abolish the common law offences of riot, rout, unlawful assembly and affray and certain statutory offences relating to public order; to create new offences relating to public order.
Citation	1986 c. 64
Introduced by	Douglas Hurd
Territorial extent	England and Wales;
Royal assent	7 November 1986
Commencement	1 April 1987
Other legislation
Amended by	Football Spectators Act 1989, Broadcasting Act 1990, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008
Status: Amended
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Public Order Act 1986 (c 64) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It creates a number of public order offences. They replace similar common law offences and parts of the Public Order Act 1936. It implements recommendations^[2] of the Law Commission.

Text

Part 1 - New offences

Section 1 - Riot

Section 2 - Violent disorder

Section 3 - Affray

Section 4 - Fear or provocation of violence

Section 4A - Intentional harassment, alarm or distress: added by section 154 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

Section 5 - Harassment, alarm or distress

Section 8 - Interpretation

This section defines the words "dwelling" and "violence".

Section 9 - Offences abolished

Section 9(1) abolished the common law offences of riot, rout, unlawful assembly and affray.

Section 9(2) abolished the offences under:

section 1 of the Tumultuous Petitioning Act 1661
section 1 of the Shipping Offences Act 1793
section 23 of the Seditious Meetings Act 1817
section 5 of the Public Order Act 1936

Part 2 - Processions and assemblies

Section 11 - Advance notice of public processions: requires at least 6 clear days' written notice to be given to the police before most public processions, including details of the intended time and route, and giving the name and address of at least one person proposing to organise it; creates offences for the organisers of a procession if they do not give sufficient notice, or if the procession diverges from the notified time or route

Section 12 - Imposing conditions on public processions: provides police the power to impose conditions on processions "to prevent serious public disorder, serious criminal damage or serious disruption to the life of the community"

Section 13 - Prohibiting public processions: Chief Police Officer has the power to ban public processions up to three months by applying to local authority for a banning order which needs subsequent confirmation from the Home Secretary.

Section 14 - Imposing conditions on public assemblies

provides police the power to impose conditions on assemblies "to prevent serious public disorder, serious criminal damage or serious disruption to the life of the community". The conditions are limited to the specifying of:

the number of people who may take part,
the location of the assembly, and
its maximum duration.

Section 14A -Prohibiting trespassory assemblies: added by section 70 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, to control "raves"

Section 16 - Public Assembly: Means an assembly of 20 or more persons in a public place which is wholly or partly open to the air.

Parts 3 and 3A- Racial and religious hatred

If the act is intended to stir up racial hatred Part 3 of the Act creates offences of

use of words or behaviour or display of written material (section 18),
publishing or distributing written material (section 19),
public performance of a play (section 20),
distributing, showing or playing a recording (section 21),
broadcasting (section 22). or
possession of racially inflammatory material (section 23)

Acts intended to stir up religious hatred are proscribed in POA Part 3A by the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (RRHA) with the insertion of new sections 29A to 29N.^[3] The RRHA bill, which was introduced by Home Secretary David Blunkett, was amended several times in the House of Lords and ultimately the Blair government was forced to accept the substitute words.

To stir uphatred on the grounds of sexual orientation was to be proscribed by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 in POA Part 3A section 29AB.^[4] This legislation was introduced by David Hanson MP.

The Act and Article 11 of ECHR

The Act should be considered in connection with Article 11 of European Convention on Human Rights, which grants people the rights of (peaceful) assembly and freedom of association with others.

Controversies

Misuse of section 14

The Police have been accused of misusing the powers in section 14 on several occasions. During the 2009 G-20 London summit protests journalists were forced to leave the protests by police who threatened them with arrest.^[5]^[6]^[7]

The campaign to reform section 5

The 'Reform Section 5' campaign was established in May 2012 to garner support for an alteration of section 5, and led to an increase in the threshold from "abusive or insulting" to "abusive" (words, etc). The campaign was supported by a range of groups and famous individuals. These included the National Secular Society, the Christian Institute, the Bow Group and The Freedom Association. Actors Rowan Atkinson and Stephen Fry also voiced their support.

External links

The Public Order Act 1986, as amended, from the National Archives.

References

↑ The citation of this Act by this short title is authorised by section 43 of this Act.
↑ The Law Commission. Criminal Law: Offences relating to Public Order (Law Com 123). HMSO. 1983.
↑ legislation.gov.uk: Schedule to RRHA 2006
↑ legislation.gov.uk: Schedule 16 to the CJIA 2008
↑ Vallée, Marc (2009-04-17). "Journalists on the G20 front line". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
↑ UK terror laws being misused to obstruct journalists, MPs told
↑ http://www.policeprofessional.com/news.aspx?id=8685

English criminal law

Classes of crimes	Common law Indictable Either way Summary Regulatory Lesser included

Elements of crimes	Actus reus Causation Mens rea Intention (criminal law) Intention in English law Recklessness Criminal negligence Corporate / Vicarious / Strict liability Omissions Concurrence Ignorantia juris non excusat

Inchoate offences	Encouraging or assisting crime Conspiracy Accessory Attempt Common purpose

Defences	Self-defence Duress Necessity Marital coercion Consent Medical procedure Prevention of crime Participation in a sporting event Lawful excuse Insanity Diminished responsibility Intoxication Category:Criminal defences

Offences against the person	Homicide (Murder / Manslaughter / Corporate manslaughter / Infanticide) Manslaughter in English law Unlawful killing Mayhem Concealing birth Child destruction Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm Assault occasioning actual bodily harm Common assault Attempting to choke, &c. in order to commit any indictable offence Assault with intent to rob Robbery Assault with intent to rape Assault with intent to commit felony, or on peace officers Assault with intent to resist lawful apprehension Buggery Battery Kidnapping Child abduction False imprisonment Harassment Offences against the Person Act 1861

Sexual offences	Rape Sexual assault Sexual Offences Act 2003

Public order offences	Riot Violent disorder Affray Unlawful assembly Fear or provocation of violence Intentional harassment, alarm or distress Harassment, alarm or distress Public Order Act 1986 Incitement to ethnic or racial hatred Challenging to a fight Nuisance Causing Public nuisance Outraging public decency Effecting a public mischief Keeping a Disorderly house Preventing the lawful burial of a body Breach of the Peace Treason High treason Common scold Nightwalker statute Rout Forcible entry Accessory (legal term) Misconduct in a public office Malfeasance in public office Abuse of authority Perjury of oath Dereliction of duty

Offences against property	Arson Dishonesty Cheating (law) Burglary Robbery Theft Larceny Criminal damage Squatting Trespass Taken Without Owner's Consent (TWOC) Deception Handling stolen goods Misappropriation of funds Blackmail Extortion Cybercrime Theft Act 1968 Theft Act 1978 Fraud Act 2006 Fraud by abuse of position Conspiracy to defraud Fare evasion Webcam blackmail

Forgery, personation and cheating	Forgery Cheating the public revenue Uttering

Offences against justice	Bribery Perjury Offences Akin to Perjury Perverting the course of justice Misrepresentation as to identity Embracery Witness intimidation Witness tampering Harming People who have Assisted the Police / Given Evidence / Been a Juror Misprison of treason Misprision of felony Compounding a felony Jury_tampering Assault with intent to resist lawful apprehension Assisting an offender Harboring a fugitive Encouraging or assisting a crime Escape from lawful custody Obstructing justice Obstruction of a police officer Wasting police time Refusing to assist a constable Sedition Espionage Contempt of the sovereign Contempt of court Fabrication of false evidence Breach of prison / breaking prison Rescuing a prisoner

Other common law areas	Contract Tort Property Wills Trusts and estates Evidence Criminal procedure

History LEW portal CJ portal

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