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Summary Offences Act 1981

Offences against public order

5A: Disorderly assembly

You could also call this:

"Being part of a group that scares others with violent or damaging behaviour in a public place"

Illustration for Summary Offences Act 1981

You are part of a disorderly assembly if you are with 2 or more people in a public place and you are behaving in a way that makes someone nearby fear you will use violence or damage property. You can also be part of a disorderly assembly if you are with 2 or more people and you are behaving in a way that makes someone nearby fear you will commit an offence against section 3. If you are part of a disorderly assembly and a police officer tells you to leave, you must leave or you could be fined up to $2,000 or go to prison for up to 3 months. If you leave the assembly but then join another one that is similar, you can still get in trouble. This law does not apply to people who are gathering to support or oppose something, like a cause or campaign. You will not get in trouble for gathering to express your point of view in a public place.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM53507.

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Crime and justice > Police and safetyCrime and justice > Criminal law
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5ADisorderly assembly

  1. A disorderly assembly is an assembly of 3 or more persons who, in any public place, assemble in such a manner, or so conduct themselves when assembled, as to cause a person in the immediate vicinity of the assembly to fear on reasonable grounds that the persons so assembled—

  2. will use violence against persons or property; or
    1. will commit an offence against section 3—
        1. in that vicinity.

      1. Every person is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or a fine not exceeding $2,000, who, being a participant in a disorderly assembly and having been warned by a constable to disperse or otherwise desist from such an assembly, without reasonable excuse,—

      2. continues to participate in the disorderly assembly; or
        1. having desisted from that disorderly assembly, participates in another disorderly assembly in circumstances in which it is reasonable to deem the warning to have applied to the new assembly as well as the original one.

          1. This section shall not apply to any group of persons who assemble in any public place for the purpose of demonstrating support for, or opposition to, or otherwise publicising, any point of view, cause, or campaign.

          Notes
          • Section 5A: inserted, on , by section 2 of the Summary Offences Amendment Act 1989 (1989 No 19).
          • Section 5A(2): amended, on , by section 7 of the Summary Offences Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 97).