The plaintiff sought damages from the police. She had gone into a store and refused to leave when so requested. The police officer escorted her from the premises. She tried to re-enter the premises, and the officer exercised his common law right to arrest her apprehending a breach of the peace. She said that since it was private property, no breach of the peace was possible.
Held: It is possible to have a breach of the peace on private premises without any legal requirement that there must be some involvement of the public as a matter of law. As a matter of evidence and pragmatism however the question of whether there were reasonable grounds to apprehend a breach of the peace must involve the overspill of the domestic dispute beyond the bounds of the property of which it is being held.
Purchas LJ said: ‘Clearly a purely domestic dispute will rarely amount to a breach of the peace. But, in exceptional circumstances, it might very well do so. Whether those particular circumstances which come to pass on private premises are sufficient to support a reasonable apprehension that a breach of the peace was about to occur will depend upon the circumstances in which the preventive steps . . are taken.’
Glidewell LJ said: ‘Mr Scholes’ main argument is more wide-ranging. He submits that, in order for there to be a breach of the peace on private premises, the authorities justify the proposition that it is necessary to find some disturbance which would affect members of the public, or at least one other person, outside the premises themselves. If the only people who are disturbed in any way are those inside the premises, those immediately concerned in the altercation, then there is no breach of the peace, he submits. During argument, I asked him to seek to distinguish a case of an abusive altercation arising between two people in an isolated house from a similar altercation arising between the same two people in a terrace house with thin walls and neighbours who could hear everything that was going on. Mr Scholes agreed that the logic of his argument meant that in the latter case there would be a breach of the peace, whereas in the former there would not. That, in my view, cannot be a very sound basis upon which to find the limits of this particular jurisdiction.
In my judgment, there is no warrant for this restriction on the bounds of what may constitute a breach of the peace for the purposes of entitling a police officer, who genuinely suspects on good grounds that a breach of the peace may occur, to make an arrest. The authorities do not provide any warrant for that. Indeed, if Mr Scholes’ submissions are correct, the answer which the judge should have given to the question posed was not `No. A breach of the peace may not take place on private premises,’ which is the answer, I take it, the plaintiff really desires, but `Yes. A breach of the peace may take place on private premises but only in defined circumstances, namely if a member or members of the public are likely to be disturbed.’ Further than that, I accept that the effect on the public may be relevant in this situation. For instance, if abusive words are spoken during the course of a public gathering or a public meeting, it may much more readily result in a breach of the peace than if precisely the same words are spoken in a private place between two persons. Thus, the question whether or not any large number of members of the public are or not likely to be involved or to overhear the words is one which, as a matter of fact, may be very relevant to the magistrates’ decision. But, as a matter of law, for the reasons I have sought to give, in my view, the judge came to an entirely right conclusion. I would, therefore, dismiss the appeal.’
Judges:
Purchas and Glidewell LJJ
Citations:
[1990] 1 WLR 364
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Wylson v Skeock 1949
. .
Cited – Robson v Hallett CA 1967
A police officer had been impliedly invited onto land, and was asked to leave, but was then assaulted before he had chance to leave.
Held: The conviction was upheld.
There is an implied licence available to members of the public on . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall, Ex parte Central Electricity Generating Board CA 1982
The CEGB wanted to undertake a survey using its statutory powers to check whether land might be suitable for a nuclear power station, and wanted the police to prevent demonstrators from preventing the survey. It now requested an order of mandamus to . .
Cited by:
Applied – McQuade v Chief Constable of Humberside Police CA 12-Jul-2001
It was not necessary for there to be a common law breach of the peace on private premises, for there to be shown any disturbance to members of the public outside the premises. A head note in the case of McConnell was a mis-interpretation of that . .
Cited – Humberside Police v McQuade CA 12-Jul-2001
Defendant’s appeal against an order giving judgment for the claimant in the action for damages to be assessed for wrongful arrest and personal injury. The claimant had been arrested in his home, purportedly for a breach of the peace. There was no . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Police, Crime
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.181231