Affray

Depending on their actions, and the laws of the prevailing jurisdiction, those engaged in an affray may also render themselves liable to prosecution for assault, unlawful assembly, or riot; if so, it is for one of these offences that they are usually charged.

159) adopts the old English common law definition of affray, with the substitution of "actual disturbance of the peace for causing terror to the lieges".

[1] In New Zealand affray has been codified as "fighting in a public place" by section 7 of the Summary Offences Act 1981.

[clarification needed] Section 3(6) once provided that a constable could arrest without warrant anyone he reasonably suspected to be committing affray, but that subsection was repealed by paragraph 26(2) of Schedule 7 to, and Schedule 17 to, the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, which includes more general provisions for police to make arrests without warrant.

[13] The offence of affray has been used by HM Government to address the problem of drunken or violent individuals who cause serious trouble on airliners.

[citation needed] In R v Childs & Price (2015),[14][15] the Court of Appeal quashed a murder verdict and replaced it with affray, having dismissed an allegation of common purpose.