In England and Wales, theoretically all criminal offences cognizable by English law involve "a breach of the King's peace", and all indictments formerly concluded "against the peace of our Lord the King, his crown and dignity" before the passage of the Indictments Act 1915 and the Rules that formed that Act's first schedule.
[2] Historically that concluding phrase, now legally superfluous, represents the last trace of the process by which the royal courts assume jurisdiction over all offences, and gradually eroded the jurisdiction of the sheriff and of lords of manor and franchises, making crime a matter of national concern as distinguished from civil wrongs or infractions of the rights of local magnates.
This is permitted when it is reasonable to believe should the person remain, that they would continue with their course of conduct and that a breach of the peace would occur.
A failure to enter into a recognizance may of itself lead to a person being committed to custody under s.115(3) Magistrates' Courts Act 1980.
Breach of the peace consists of "conduct severe enough to cause alarm to ordinary people and threaten serious disturbance to the community".
[16] Section 38 of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 created an offence of behaving in a threatening or abusive manner in a way likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm, similar to the Section 5 Public Order act in England and Wales.
In Terminiello v. City of Chicago (1949), the United States Supreme Court held that an ordinance of the City of Chicago that banned speech which "stirs the public to anger, invites dispute, brings about a condition of unrest, or creates a disturbance" was unconstitutional under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
[17] Justice Douglas stated: "Accordingly a function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute.
[20]On the state level, at least one court has reasoned that the essence of a breach of the peace was the potential to cause a disruption in tranquility or to promote the threat of violence, stating that a breach of the peace was that which "disturbs or threatens to disturb the tranquility enjoyed by the citizens".