Riot act
Black's Law Dictionary · Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
Black's Law Dictionary
A celebrated English statute, which provides that, if any twelve persons or more are unlawfully assembled and disfurbing the peace, any sheriff, under-sheriff, justice of the peace, or mayor may, by proclamation, command them to disperse, (which is familiarly called "reading the riot act,") and that if they refuse to obey and remnin together for the space of one hour after such proclamation, they are all guilty oi felony. The act is 1 Geo. I. St. 2. c.
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