Civil and Military Power

THE relations, responsibilities, and duties of the Civil and hlilitary I'owcr, when called upon to suppress disturbances of the public peace, give rise to'sevcral delicate points of law which are not always easy of elucidation.The laws of England, the bases on which the right of suppressing disturbances must rest, derive their authority from various sources.birstly the Common law, the ancient customs of the land or unwritten law, though practically by this time preservcd in writing, owing its dominion principally to its antiquity.In the quaint legal phrascology, these laws have been in existence Time whereof the memory of man runncth not to the contrary."They have been confirmed, varicd, or amplified, from time to time, by the decisions of the Judges presiding over the various courts of Justice.Statute Law, or laws expressly created by the power of the legis aturc, as laid down in the promulgations of Parliament.Disturbances of the peace vary in degree, as d o also the severity of the punishments.whichthe law imposes on those convicted of the offence.It is convenient to consider them in the following order :-A.-Unlawful assembly.C.-Rio t .D .-Insurrection. SecondlrsB.-Rout.By the Conimon law, an assembly of three or more persons.with intent to commit a crime by force, or to carry out any purpose, either lawful, or unlawful, with some circumstances of actual or apprehended violence sufficient to alarm, not only foolish and timid people, but persons of reasonable firmness and courage, is an unlawful assembly.An assembly may be unlawful, though the object may be lawful, and no violence actually committed.A Chartist meeting at Newport, in 1839, where from three hundred to a thousand persons, many armed with sticks, were excited by orators to commit violence, was held to be an unlawful assembly.If the assembly proceeds to esecutc its object, it becomes a rout, and if it actually commences to execute its design by a breach of the peace, to the terror of the public, it becomes a riot.Punishment for either rout or riot-fine and imprisonment.The mere assembly of a crowd is not in itself an unlawful assembly.Baron Alderson said : ' I There is no doubt that the people of this are, or even what they consider to be, their grievances; that rig a t what they country have a perfect right to meet for the purpose of statin alwa s hove had, and I trust always will have."f f the object of the assembly is not of a private nature, but of Punishment-fine and imprisonment.