Violent disorder is a statutory offence in England and Wales

England and Wales

England and Wales is a jurisdiction within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom...

. It is created by section 2(1) of the Public Order Act 1986

Public Order Act 1986

The Public Order Act 1986 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...

. Sections 2(1) to (4) of that Act provide:
Where 3 or more persons who are present together use or threaten unlawful violence and the conduct of them (taken together) is such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for their personal safety, each of the persons using or threatening unlawful violence is guilty of violent disorder. It is immaterial whether or not the 3 or more use or threaten unlawful violence simultaneously. No person of reasonable firmness need actually be, or be likely to be, present at the scene. Violent disorder may be committed in private as well as in public places.

"3 or more persons"

See the following cases:

• R v Mahroof, 88 Cr App R 317, CA
• R v Fleming and Robinson [1989] Crim LR 658, CA
• R v McGuigan and Cameron [1991] Crim LR 719, CA

"Violence"

This word is defined by section 8.

Arrest

Before 1 January 2006 this offence was classified as an arrestable offence

Arrestable offence

Arrestable offence is a legal term now obsolete in English law and the legal system of Northern Ireland, but still used in the legal system of the Republic of Ireland. The Criminal Law Act 1967 introduced the category to replace the ancient term felony...

 by virtue of section 24(1)(b) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 is an Act of Parliament which instituted a legislative framework for the powers of police officers in England and Wales to combat crime, as well as providing codes of practice for the exercise of those powers. Part VI of PACE required the Home Secretary...

. See now sections 24 and 24A of that Act, as substituted by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005

Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005

The Serious Organized Crime and Police Act 2005 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom aimed primarily at creating the Serious Organised Crime Agency, it also significantly extended and simplified the powers of arrest of a constable and introduced restrictions on protests in the...

.

Mode of trial and sentence

Violent disorder is triable either way

Either Way

"Either Way" is a song by The Twang, which was released as their second single under the B-Unique Records on May 28, 2007, and it is also the second single to be taken from the band's debut album Love It When I Feel Like This...

. A person guilty of violent disorder is liable on conviction

Conviction

In law, a conviction is the verdict that results when a court of law finds a defendant guilty of a crime.The opposite of a conviction is an acquittal . In Scotland and in the Netherlands, there can also be a verdict of "not proven", which counts as an acquittal...

 on indictment

Indictment

An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

 to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to a fine, or to both, or, on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both.

The following cases are relevant:

• R v Tomlinson, 157 JP 695, CA
• R v Hebron and Spencer, 11 Cr App R (S) 226, [1989] Crim LR 839, CA
• R v Watson & others (1990) 12 Cr App R (S) 477
• R v Tyler and others, 96 Cr App R 332, [1993] Crim LR 60, CA
• R v Green [1997] 2 Cr App R (S) 191
• R v Chapman (2002) 146 SJ
• R v Rees [2006] 1 Cr App R (S)