The Public Order Act (Northern Ireland) 1951 (1951 c. 19) was an Act of the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore ord ...

. The Act concerned meetings and 'non traditional' parades, although a 1970 amendment considerably broadened the Act's scope to include paramilitary groups and weaponry.

Provisions

The first section of the Act required any person or persons organising a public procession to give 48 hours' notice to a senior officer of the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

(RUC). The only exceptions were funeral processions and 'public processions which are customarily held along a particular route'. Failing to give notice was an offence against the Act. Any senior RUC officer who decided that the procession might lead to a

breach of the peace Breach of the peace, or disturbing the peace, is a legal term used in constitutional law in English-speaking countries and in a public order sense in the several jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It is a form of disorderly conduct. Public ord ...

or serious public disorder could order the route to be changed. A

Minister of Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

who felt that rerouting would not be sufficient to prevent serious disorder could make an order banning any or all parades in that area. The Act also made it an offence to say or do anything insulting, threatening or abusive at a public meeting or procession; to display anything which would be likely to cause a breach of the peace; or to act in a disorderly manner during a lawful public meetings for the purpose of preventing the purpose of the meeting. Anyone convicted of an offence under the Act could be fined up to £500 or be imprisoned for up to two years, depending on which section the offence was under and the nature of the offence.

Amendment

The Act was amended in 1970 in response to the beginning of

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

. The amendment made it an offence to knowingly take part in an illegal procession or meeting; increased the notice required to 72 hours; made it an offence to attempt to prevent, hinder or annoy a legal procession and made it an offence to sit, kneel or lie in a public place to hinder any lawful activity. When considering whether to reroute a parade, the RUC were required to have regard to 'the desirability of not interfering with a public procession customarily held along a particular route'. Maximum fines and prison terms for lesser offences under the Act were increased. The amendment also banned the wearing of uniforms signifying membership of any political organisation or support for a political aim except at the discretion of the Minister of Home Affairs, specifically banned the formation of paramilitary associations and banned the carrying of offensive weapons in public places.

Repeal

The Act was repealed by the

Public Order (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

, an

order in council An Order-in-Council is a type of legislation in many countries, especially the Commonwealth realms. In the United Kingdom this legislation is formally made in the name of the monarch by and with the advice and consent of the Privy Council ('' Ki ...

made by the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

during the period of

direct rule Direct rule is when an imperial or central power takes direct control over the legislature, executive and civil administration of an otherwise largely self-governing territory. Examples Chechnya In 1991, Chechen separatists declared independence ...

. The new legislation removed the 'traditional processions' exemption and required all parade organisers to give seven days notice to the RU

Effects

The Act took over the governance and control of parades in Northern Ireland from the 1922 Special Powers Act. Although a 'customary' parade was never defined, most commentators agree that the clause exempting these parades privileged

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots heritage. It also ...

and other

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

/ loyalist marches, as under the Special Powers Act, they had generally been allowed to go wherever they liked, but nationalist and republican parades had been restricted to

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

-dominated areas.Neil Jarman and Dominic Bryan, 'Green Parades in an Orange State: Nationalist and Republican Commemorations and Demonstrations from Partition to the Troubles, 1920-1970', in T.G. Fraser, ed., ''The Irish Parading Tradition: Following the Drum'', London and New York, 2000, p.102. Although loyalist parades were occasionally banned before the beginning of the Troubles, that was very unusual and tended to do severe career damage to the Minister who enacted the ban. Once the Troubles broke out, the Act was used to ban all parades in Northern Ireland for several periods from 1969 to 1972. It remained relatively unusual for loyalist parades to be specifically banned, but their rerouting became much more common.

References

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External links