Editing Riot Act (section)

==In other countries==
The Riot Act passed into the law of those countries that were then colonies of Great Britain, including the [[North America]]n colonies that would become the [[United States]] and [[Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web  |title=Johnston Riot Act |url=https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/johnston-riot-act/ |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=North Carolina History Project |date=7 March 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Legislative Services Branch |date=2022-06-23 |title=Consolidated federal laws of Canada, Criminal Code |url=https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-7.html?txthl=riot |access-date=2022-09-04 |website=laws-lois.justice.gc.ca}}</ref>

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.

===Australia===
Acts similar to the Riot Act have been enacted in some Australian states. For example, in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] the Unlawful Assemblies and Processions Act 1958 allowed a magistrate to disperse a crowd with the words (or words to the effect of):

{{blockquote|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 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.<ref name="legislation.vic.gov.au">{{Cite web |url=http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubLawToday.nsf/a12f6f60fbd56800ca256de500201e54/D16833E3F4514F2ACA25734C000D1A47/$FILE/58-6406a024.pdf#10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219013720/http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/Domino/Web_Notes/LDMS/PubLawToday.nsf/a12f6f60fbd56800ca256de500201e54/D16833E3F4514F2ACA25734C000D1A47/$FILE/58-6406a024.pdf#10|url-status=dead|title=Unlawful Assemblies and Processions Act 1958|archive-date=19 December 2008}}</ref> The Act was significantly amended in 2007.<ref name="legislation.vic.gov.au"/>

===Belize===
[[Belize]], another former British colony, also still retains the principle of the Riot Act; it was last read on 21 January 2005, during the [[2005 Belize unrest]]. While there is no specific form of words provided for such proclamations, they must be made "in the King's name".

The provisions are formed in sections 231, 246 and 247 of the country's criminal code, providing particularly that:

{{blockquote|Any magistrate, or in the absence of any magistrate any commissioned officer in Her Majesty's naval, military or air force service or any police officer above the rank of inspector, in whose view a riot is being committed, or who apprehends that a riot is about to be committed by persons being assembled within his view, may make or cause to be made a proclamation in the Queen's name, in such form as he thinks fit, commanding the rioters or persons so assembled to disperse peaceably.}}

Any person who does not disperse within one hour of the proclamation being read is liable to receive a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.belizelaw.org/lawadmin/PDF%20files/cap101.pdf |title=Belize Criminal Code Chapter 101 |publisher=Belizelaw.org |access-date=24 December 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224005748/http://www.belizelaw.org/lawadmin/PDF%20files/cap101.pdf |archive-date=24 February 2012  }}</ref>

===Canada===
In Canada, the Riot Act has been incorporated in a modified form into the [[Criminal Code (Canada)|''Criminal Code'']], a federal statute.  Sections 32 and 33 of the Code deal with the power of police officers to suppress riots.<ref>{{Cite canlaw |short title=Criminal Code|abbr = RSC|year = 1985|chapter =C-45|section =32.|link =https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-32.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title  = Criminal Code|abbr = RSC|year = 1985|chapter =C-45|section =33.|link =https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-33.html}}</ref> The Code defines a riot as an "unlawful assembly" that has "begun to disturb the peace tumultuously".<ref>{{Cite canlaw|short title  = Criminal Code|abbr = RSC|year = 1985|chapter =C-45|section =64.|link =https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-64.html}}</ref> When twelve or more persons are "unlawfully and riotously assembled together", the proclamation can be read by a number of public officials, such as justices of the peace, provincial court judges, mayors, and sheriffs.<ref name = s67>{{Cite canlaw|short title  = Criminal Code|abbr = RSC|year = 1985|chapter =C-45|section =67.|link =https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-67.html}}</ref> The proclamation can also be read during prison riots: Quebec and Manitoba have designated senior correctional staff as [[Justice of the peace|justices of the peace]] for the purpose of reading the proclamation, while other provinces will ask a local justice of the peace to travel to the prison to read the proclamation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/forum/e012/e012q-eng.shtml|title=FORUM on Corrections Research|date=11 July 2007|publisher=Correctional Service Canada}}</ref>

In the act the proclamation is to be worded as follows, or words to the same effect:

{{blockquote|Her Majesty the Queen charges and commands all persons being assembled immediately to disperse and peaceably to depart to their habitations or to their lawful business on the pain of being guilty of an offence for which, on conviction, they may be sentenced to imprisonment for life. God save the Queen.<ref name = s67/>}}

(Since the monarch is now a King, the obvious changes are made.) Unlike the original Riot Act, the ''Criminal Code'' requires the assembled people to disperse within thirty minutes.<ref name = s68>{{Cite canlaw|short title  = Criminal Code|abbr = RSC|year = 1985|chapter =C-45|section =68.|link =https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-68.html}}</ref>  When the proclamation has not been read, the punishment for rioting is up to two years of imprisonment.<ref name = s66>{{Cite canlaw|short title  = Criminal Code|abbr = RSC|year = 1985|chapter =C-45|section =65(1) |link =https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/section-65.html}}</ref> When the proclamation has been read and then ignored, the penalty increases, up to life imprisonment.<ref name = s68/> The maximum penalty of life imprisonment also applies to someone who wilfully uses force to hinder the reading of the proclamation, or to those fail to disperse and who have reasonable grounds to believe the proclamation would have been made had the official not been hindered by force.

The proclamation was read during the [[Winnipeg general strike]] of 1919<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cpha.ca/fighting-good-fight-winnipeg-general-strike-1919 |title='Fighting the good fight: Winnipeg general strike of 1919', Canadian Public Health Association |access-date=17 July 2019 |archive-date=17 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717052115/https://www.cpha.ca/fighting-good-fight-winnipeg-general-strike-1919 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the 1958 riot over racial discrimination against First Nations in [[Prince Rupert, British Columbia]].<ref>[https://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/bcstudies/article/download/1705/1751/ Robert A. Campbell, "A 'Fantastic Rigmarole': Deregulating Aboriginal Drinking in British Columbia, 1945–62", BC Studies, No. 141, Spring 2004, p. 81.]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.princerupertlibrary.ca/fire/|title=Prince Rupert Fire Museum|website=www.princerupertlibrary.ca}}</ref> One recent reading was during [[2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot|Vancouver's Stanley Cup riot in June 2011]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/riots-erupt-in-vancouver-after-canucks-loss-1.993707|title=Riots erupt in Vancouver after Canucks loss | publisher=CBC News | date=16 June 2011}}</ref> Despite the reading of the proclamation, rioters were almost always charged under s 65 due to the difficulty of proving the elements of the offence in s 68. Many rioters also faced charges related to assaulting peace officers, mischief, theft, arson and assault.

=== Caribbean region ===
In St Kitts on 29 January 1935 the act was read at Buckley's Estate<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.historicstkitts.kn/places/buckley-s-estate | title=Historic St. Kitts - Buckley's Estate }}</ref> located on the western outskirts of [[Basseterre]] during a strike of sugar workers that turned violent.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Labour Rebellions of the 1930s in the British Caribbean Region Colonies |publisher=Socialist History Society |url=http://www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/?page_id=193 |access-date=2022-09-04 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In St Vincent on 21 October 1935 the act was read in Kingstown during a violent protest by unemployed sugar workers.<ref name=":2" />

=== New Zealand ===
In New Zealand the Riot Act was incorporated into sections 87 and 88 of the Crimes Act 1961,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legislation.knowledge-basket.co.nz/gpacts/reprint/text/1961/an/043.html|title=Crimes Act 1961|publisher=The Knowledge Basket|date=1 January 1962|access-date=19 January 2013}}</ref> and repealed in March of 1987. The proclamation was worded as follows:

{{blockquote|Her Majesty the Queen commands all of you to disperse immediately and to go quietly to your homes or to your lawful business, upon pain of being charged with an offence punishable by imprisonment for five years. God save the Queen.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legislation.knowledge-basket.co.nz/gpacts/reprint/text/1961/se/043se88.html|title=Section 88 of the Crimes Act 1961|publisher=The Knowledge Basket|date=1962-01-01|access-date=2013-01-19}}</ref>}}

The need to read the Riot Act was removed by section three of the Crimes Amendment Act (1987 No 1).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM328563.html|title=Crimes Act 1961 No 43, Section 88|publisher=Parliamentary Council Office|date=1 October 2012|access-date=19 January 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://legislation.knowledge-basket.co.nz/gpacts/public/text/1987/an/001.html|title=Crimes Amendment Act (1987 No 1)|publisher=The Knowledge Basket|date=12 March 1987|access-date=19 January 2013}}</ref>

===United States===
A riot act was passed by the [[Massachusetts]] state legislature in 1786 during [[Shays' Rebellion]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Zinn |first=Howard |title=A People's History of the United States |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-06-083865-2 |oclc=61265580 |page=[https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof00zinn_0/page/93 93] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof00zinn_0/page/93 }}</ref>

At the federal level, the principle of the Riot Act was incorporated into the first [[Militia Acts of 1792|Militia Act]] (1 Stat. 264) of 2 May 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". Section 3 of the Militia Act gave power to the [[President of the United States|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 currently codified in [[title 10 of the United States Code]], Chapter 13, Section 254.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2017-title10/pdf/USCODE-2017-title10-subtitleA-partI-chap13-sec254.pdf|title=10 USC Chapter 13 – Insurrection, Section 254 – Proclamation to Disperse.|publisher=Government Publishing Office|access-date=6 March 2019}}</ref>

Prohibitions against inciting riots were further codified in United States federal law under ''[[Title 18 of the United States Code|18 U.S. Code]] § 2101 – Riots'', as part of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968]], passed by the United States Congress.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2101|title=18 U.S. Code § 2101 – Riots|website=LII / Legal Information Institute}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/home.nsf/page/tu_chicago7_doc_11.html|title=History of the Federal Judiciary &#124; Federal Judicial Center|website=www.fjc.gov}}</ref>