Breach of the Peace

Breach of the Peace is a Common law crime.

Defintion and critismsm
Despite being defined by Hume as "Akin to Rioting", Breach of the Peace has traditionally been seen as a "catch all" crime; derided as "anything two police officers do not like", and criticised by Christie as "an almost limitless instrument of social control".

There is no specific Mens Rea to this offence, it is simply enough that the accused ran the risk.

It has been argued that through the vagueness of this law it is incompatible with Article 7 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The definition has narrowed in recent times through cases such as Smith v Donnelly (2002), which stated

"What is required to commit the crime is conduct severe enough to cause alarm to ordinary people and threaten serious disturbance to the community" .

This redefinition does not overturn previous cases, but makes them unreliable.

Lindsay v Her Majesty's Advocate established that upsetting and annoying behaviour is not enough to satisfy the Actus Reus. The test is not based on alarm with an alarmed person neither proves, nor their absence disprove that a breach of the peace occurred.

The context of the place and time does matter, as during a football match set in Walls v Brown 2009, however police presence at this offence was held not to be a defence.

The offence can be committed in private. In Young v Healty offensive remarks from a teacher to school children were considered by the court to be a potential breach of the peace if "flagrant enough". This case has since been overruled.

Stalking

 * See Also: Stalking

Although the rest of the UK has the offence of "Stalking" created in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; Scotland was excluded from this as there is case law covering Stalking as a Breach of the peace.

Following the narrowing of this offence, it was instead inserted into the Criminal Justice and Licensing Act.

Offensive Behaviour at Football matches

 * See Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threats (something) act 2012.