Riot consists in the joint unlawful action, by breach of the peace or by causing terror to the public, of three or more persons assembled together whether they originally assembled for these purposes or no. When a riot becomes formidable any justice of the peace may command the persons assembled, if not less than twelve in number, to disperse peaceably by a form of words called reading the Riot Act (1 Geo. I. chap. 5), thus: 'Our Sovereign Lord the King (or Lady the Queen) 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 an Act of King George for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies.—God save the King (or Queen).' (The omission of these last four words makes the reading nugatory.) To justify the use of military force in the prevention of serious outrages and damage to persons and property, it is not necessary to wait for the proclamation being read, still less to wait for an hour after it has been read. Though death or wounds result to those composing the mob, such hurt is not a criminal offence. The rioters are guilty of felony, and are liable to penal servitude for life. Prosecutions under the Riot Act must be commenced within twelve months of the time of committing the alleged offence. Sometimes the Riot Act is read more than once during the disturbance, in which case the second or third reading does not supersede the first. The Riot Damages Act, 1886, provides compensation from the rates to those whose property is damaged during a riot. Less serious than riot are unlawful assembly, a meeting of three or more for an unlawful object, but where no part of the object is actually carried out; and rout, where the assembly proceeds to execute the act, but does not actually accomplish it; and affray, that is, a fight between two or more in some public place (e.g. a prize-fight), but it must not be premeditated. In private the disturbance would be an assault. Among notable riots have been those in Scotland on account of the Union (1707); the Porteous Mob in Edinburgh (1736); Lord George Gordon's 'No Popery' Riots (1780); at Birmingham (1791) in connection with the Commemoration of the French Revolution; the Luddites (1811, 1812); Peterloo (1819); Reform Riots at Bristol (1831); Chartist Riots (1838–39); Rebecca Riots in Wales (1843); religious riots at Belfast
(1852, 1862, 1872, 1886, 1887); Reform Riots in Hyde Park (1866); Trafalgar Square Riots (1886, 1887); Tithe Riots in Wales (1887). See S. Hastings, The Law relating to Riots (1886). The American laws as to riots follow in the main the law of England, but are less stringent in their application, and less severe in the punishments incurred. Amongst the most memorable riots in the United States were the Doctors' Riot at New York (1788); the Astor Place Riot, directed against the English actor Macready (1849); the Draft Riots in New York (1863); and the Anarchist Riot in Chicago (1886).