Read ‘em the Riot Act

If you’re like me, you’ve heard the “Riot Act” referred to, as in “He was so mad he read the Riot Act.” I’ve never known exactly what that meant. I assumed it was some sort of archaic slang describing a riotous situation. Well there was actually a Riot Act, a law passed in 1714 in England. And it’s pretty impressive. The idea was, you read the very specific text in The Riot Act, and if the crowd didn’t disperse, you were free to arrest the whole lot of them or possibly worse. Now, just in case you ever need to disperse an angry mob, here is the text:

Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the Act made in the first year of King George the First for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God Save the King.

You had to read it verbatim, or else it wasn’t valid. You’ve got to wonder if the sheriff had a copy with him at all times in case of emergency, or if he tried to speak it from memory in the face of an angry crowd.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/R/Ri/Riot_Act.htm

A form of it is still the law in Canada! http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/41821.html#section-67

Now if you get that mad, you really can read somebody the Riot Act!