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Section 16 Interpretation.

England, Wales and Scotland

In this Part—

  • “the City of London” means the City as defined for the purposes of the Acts relating to the City of London police;

  • “the metropolitan police district” means that district as defined in section 76 of the M1London Government Act 1963;

  • “public assembly” means an assembly of F120 2 or more persons in a public place which is F2—

    1. (a)

      wholly or partly open to the air, or

    2. (b)

      within any of paragraphs (a) to (f) of section 31(1) of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003;

  • “public place” means—

    1. (a)

      any highway, or in Scotland any road within the meaning of the M2Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, and

    2. (b)

      any place to which at the material time the public or any section of the public has access, on payment or otherwise, as of right or by virtue of express or implied permission;

  • “public procession” means a procession in a public place.

Annotations

Textual amendments

F1

S. 16: in definition of "public assembly", reference to "20" substituted (E.W.) (20.1.2004) for reference to "2" by Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (c. 38), ss. 57, 93(1); S.I. 2003/3300, art. 2(e)(i)

F2

Words in s. 16 substituted (29.6.2026) by Crime and Policing Act 2026 (c. 20), ss. 167(3), 255(3)(e)

Marginal citations

M1

1963 c. 33.

M2

1984 c. 54.