Riot Act - Subsequent History of The Riot Act in The UK

Subsequent History of The Riot Act in The UK

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 offence of failing to disperse after a reading of the Riot Act.

The death penalty created by sections 1 and 4 and 5 of the Act was reduced to transportation for life by section 1 of the Punishment of Offences Act (1837).

The Riot Act drifted into disuse. The last time it was definitely read in the United Kingdom was in Birkenhead on 3 August 1919, during the second police strike when large numbers of police officers from Birkenhead, Liverpool and Bootle joined the strike. Troops were called in to deal with rioting and looting that sprang up, and a magistrate read out the Riot Act. None of the rioters subsequently faced the charge of a statutory felony. Earlier in the same year, at the battle of George Square on 31 January, in Glasgow, the city's sheriff was in the process of reading the Riot Act to a crowd of 90,000 – when the sheet of paper he was reading from was ripped out of his hands by one of the rioters. However, it was claimed to be read at a bonfire in the village of Chiddingfold, Surrey, in 1929.

The Act was repealed on 18 July 1973 for the United Kingdom by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1973 (by which time riot was no longer punishable by death).