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PUBLIC ORDER (AMENDMENT) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1970 - SECT 7

Prohibition of quasi-military organisations.

7.(1) If the members or adherents of any association of persons, whether
incorporated or not, are

(a)organised or trained or equipped for the purpose of enabling them to be
employed in usurping the functions of the Royal Ulster Constabulary or the
[Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve] or the armed forces of the Crown; or

(b)organised and trained or organised and equipped either for the purpose of
enabling them to be employed for the use or display of physical force in
promoting any political object, or in such manner as to arouse reasonable
apprehension that they are organised and either trained or equipped for that
purpose;

Provided that in any proceedings against a person charged with the offence of
taking part in the control or management of such an association as aforesaid
it shall be a defence to that charge to prove that he neither consented to nor
connived at the organisation, training, or equipment of members or adherents
of the association in contravention of the provisions of this section.

(2) No prosecution shall be instituted under this section without the consent
of the Attorney-General.

(3) If upon application being made by the Attorney-General it appears to the
High Court that any association is an association of which members or
adherents are organised, trained, or equipped in contravention of the
provisions of this section, the Court may make such order as appears necessary
to prevent any disposition without the leave of the Court of property held by
or for the association and in accordance with rules of court may direct an
inquiry and report to be made as to any such property as aforesaid and as to
the affairs of the association and make such further orders as appear to the
Court to be just and equitable for the application of such property in or
towards the discharge of the liabilities of the association lawfully incurred
before the date of the application or since that date with the approval of the
Court, in or towards the repayment of moneys to persons who became subscribers
or contributors to the association in good faith and without knowledge of any
such contravention as aforesaid, and in or towards any costs incurred in
connection with any such inquiry and report as aforesaid or in winding up or
dissolving the association, and may order that any property which is not
directed by the Court to be so applied as aforesaid shall be forfeited to the
Crown.

(4) In any criminal or civil proceedings under this section proof of things
done or of words written, spoken or published (whether or not in the presence
of any party to the proceedings) by any person taking part in the control or
management of an association or in organising, training or equipping members
or adherents of an association shall be admissible as evidence of the purposes
for which, or the manner in which, members or adherents of the association
(whether those persons or others) were organised, or trained, or equipped.

(5) If a judge of the High Court is satisfied by information on oath that
there is reasonable ground for suspecting that an offence under this section
has been committed, and that evidence of the commission thereof is to be found
at any premises or place specified in the information, he may, on an
application made by a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary of a rank not
lower than that of head constable, grant a search warrant authorising any such
member as aforesaid named in the warrant together with any other persons named
in the warrant and any constables to enter the premises or place at any time
within one month from the date of the warrant, if necessary by force, and to
search the premises or place and every person found therein, and to seize
anything found on the premises or place or on any such person which a
constable has reasonable ground for suspecting to be evidence of the
commission of such an offence as aforesaid:

Provided that no woman shall, in pursuance of a warrant issued under this
subsection, be searched except by a woman.

(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the employment
by the organisers of any lawful public procession or lawful public meeting of
a reasonable number of persons as stewards to assist in the preservation of
order at that procession or meeting, or the making of arrangements for that
purpose or the instruction of the persons to be so employed in their lawful
duties as such stewards, or their being furnished with badges or other
distinguishing signs.

(7) Any person who incites, or procures, or endeavours to persuade others to
commit, an offence under this section shall be guilty of an offence under this
section.

(8) Any person who commits an offence under this section by reason only of his
being a member or adherent of an association shall be liable on summary
conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine
not exceeding one hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment and such fine.

(9) Any person who commits an offence under this section other than an offence
to which subsection (8) applies shall be liable

(a)on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months
or to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds or to both such imprisonment
and such fine; or

(b)on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five
years or to a fine not exceeding one thousand pounds or to both such
imprisonment and such fine.

© 1970 Crown Copyright

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