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| 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[b] |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 7 November 1986 |
| Commencement | 1 April 1987[citation needed][c] |
| Other legislation | |
| Amends | |
| Repeals/revokes | Tumultuous Petitioning Act 1661 |
| Amended by | |
Status: Amended | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Revised text of statute as amended | |
| Text of the Public Order Act 1986 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, fromlegislation.gov.uk. | |
ThePublic Order Act 1986 (c. 64) is anact of theParliament of the United Kingdom that creates a number ofpublic order offences. They replace similarcommon law offences and parts of thePublic Order Act 1936 (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6. c. 6). At first the law implemented the 1983 recommendations of theLaw Commission;[1] later on it was amended by the Blair government to include Parts 3 and 3A.
Before the introduction of the act, policing public order was based on various relevantcommon law offences, and thePublic Order Act 1936 (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6. c. 6). Several factors influenced the introduction of the Public Order Act 1986. Significant public disorder, such as theSouthall riot in 1979, theBrixton riot that extended to other cities in 1981, and thenational miners' strike and associated disorder between 1984 and 1985 – in particular theBattle of Orgreave in June 1984 – and theBattle of the Beanfield in June 1985. Furthermore, the 1983Law Commission report,Criminal Law: Offences Relating to Public Order recommended updating the law.[2]
The Law Commission stated its desire to further to extend thecodification of the law in England and Wales. It advocated the abolition of the common law offences ofaffray,riot,rout, andunlawful assembly. It argued the changes it recommended to public order legislation made it more practical to use, and make the law more comprehensible to the courts and juries.[1]
The long title of the act details the intention of the Public Order Act 1986:[3]
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; to control public processions and assemblies; to control the stirring up of racial hatred; to provide for the exclusion of certain offenders from sporting events; to create a new offence relating to the contamination of or interference with goods; to confer power to direct certain trespassers to leave land; to amend section 7 of theConspiracy, and Protection of Property Act 1875, section 1 of thePrevention of Crime Act 1953, Part V of theCriminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980 and theSporting Events (Control of Alcohol etc.) Act 1985; to repeal certain obsolete or unnecessary enactments; and for connected purposes.
This section defines the words "dwelling" and "violence".
Section 9(1) abolished thecommon law offences ofriot,rout,unlawful assembly andaffray.
Section 9(2) abolished the offences under:
If the act is intended to stir upracial hatredPart 3 of the act creates offences of
Acts intended to stir upreligious hatred are proscribed in POAPart 3A by theRacial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (RRHA) with the insertion of new sections 29A to 29N.[4] The RRHA bill, which was introduced by Home SecretaryDavid Blunkett, was amended several times in theHouse of Lords and ultimately theBlair government wasforced to accept the substitute words.
To stir up hatred on the grounds ofsexual orientation was to be proscribed by theCriminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 in POA Part 3A section 29AB.[5] This legislation was introduced byDavid Hanson during his time asMinister of State affected to theSecretary of State for Justice underJack Straw.
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The act should be considered in connection with Article 11 ofEuropean Convention on Human Rights, which grants people the rights of (peaceful) assembly and freedom of association with others.
The UK police have been accused by protestors and journalists of misusing the powers in section 14 on several occasions.[6] During the2009 G-20 London summit protests journalists were forced to leave the protests by police who threatened them with arrest.[6][7][8]
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 strictly "abusive" for speech restricted by the act. It was reported that under section 5 alone, 51,285 people were convicted between 2001 and 2003, 8,489 of whom were between 10 and 17 years of age.[9]
The campaign was supported by a range of groups and famous individuals. These included theNational Secular Society, theChristian Institute, the Bow Group,Big Brother Watch, thePeter Tatchell Foundation andThe Freedom Association. ActorsRowan Atkinson andStephen Fry also voiced their support.[10]
In 2013, aHouse of Lords amendment to a forthcoming Crime and Court Bill meant the removal of "insulting" from the definition of section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986. A subsequentHouse of Commons briefing paper acknowledged the government's acceptance of the amendment and detailed the reasons for its decision.[2]
In 2021 the government published the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which would amend and strengthen the Public Order Act 1986 in certain ways, including widening the restrictions police can place on protests and demonstrations, impose conditions on one-person protests, and define what is meant by protests causing "serious disruption" to wider communities.[11]
These amendments were enacted by thePolice, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 including new sections 12(12) and 14(11) giving the Home Secretary the power to makeregulations defining the meaning of phrases in the act, a so-calledHenry VIII power.[12]
In May 2025, theCourt of Appeal ruled that two regulations issued[13] under this amendment were not lawful, in that defining certain powers under the act to apply to "more than minor" disruption in protests was incompatible with the act's "serious disruption" requirement.[14][15][12]
The full text ofPublic Order Act 1986 at Wikisource