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MAGISTRATES - MAGISTRATES’ COURTS - PENAL AND CIVIL POWERS - RECOGNISANCES - GROUNDS FOR REQUIRING RECOGNISANCES - WHETHER BREACH OF PEACE HAVING TO INVOLVE VIOLENCE OR THREAT OF VIOLENCE
Notes
This case establishes that, where a magistrate is considering binding someone over for breach of the peace, that the breach involved violence or the threat of violence. The violence did not have to be perpetrated by the defendant, if violence by others was a natural consequence of his non-violent act. In other words he could be bound over if he provoked the use of violence by others. Civil trespass therefore cannot of itself amount to breach of the peace unless the circumstances were such that violence was the natural consequence of the action.
An example of how this offence might be used against activists is as follows. A protestor occupies a shop selling fur and when asked to leave by the manager does so in a non-violent manner. At this stage the protestor has not committed a breach of the peace. But the protestor then continues to attempt to gain entry to the shop and although on each occasion he does not resist efforts to keep him out, passing shoppers are threatening him due to the inconvenience caused by his albeit nonviolent action. Percy establishes that in this situation a defendant would be liable to be arrested and bound over for breaching the peace, as his non-violent action was provoking the threat of violence from others.
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