Breach of the Peace

Despite the number of prosecutions, and the appeal court's attempts to narrow its ambit in recent years, breach of the peace remains ill-defined in Scotland. Describing its development from the mid-19th century to the present day, Pamela Ferguson criticises the breach of the peace on several fronts. Ferguson also considers related statutory offences, such as those created by the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 and the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012, and considers how effective these new offences have been at supplanting the common law crime.