Public Order and Liberties Act, 1760

Public Order and Liberties Act, 1760

14th Cortes Federales
Long title	An Act to prohibit paramilitary and intimidatory displays and the maintenance of private bodies organized to usurp public force or to intimidate; to carry forward within one framework the measures of the defeated Public Order (Paramilitary and Intimidatory Displays) Act, 1759 and of the unenacted Prohibition of Paramilitary Organizations Act, 1730; to prohibit the financing of, recruitment for, and promotion of quasi-military organizations; to provide for the proscription of such organizations by the High Court of Justice alone; to protect lawful assembly, expression, and ceremonial, cultural, religious, sporting, and historical activity; to require intent or recklessness for every offense and to subject the exercise of every power to a test of proportionality; to require the authorization of a court for the prohibition of an assembly; to place the oversight of the powers conferred by this Act with the Federal Police Committee; to provide that the powers to proscribe organizations lapse unless they are renewed by the Cortes Federales; among other purposes.
Bill Number	FA-1760-08
Introduced by	Council of State (Government of the Federal Accord), sponsored by Francisco Gabaza (FCP / Santander) and Piti Gándara (Independent)
Extent	Entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Bill Status	Proposed
Date introduced	10.II.1760 AN
Last updated	1760 AN
Other legislation
Amendments	None
Related legislation	Proclamation of Punta Santiago Public Order (Paramilitary and Intimidatory Displays) Act, 1759 Prohibition of Paramilitary Organizations Act, 1730 National Police Act, 1699 Organized Crime Control Act, 1750 Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759

The Public Order and Liberties Act, 1760 (Alexandrian: Loi sur l'ordre public et les libertés, 1760; Martino: Ley de Orden Público y Libertades, 1760) is proposed legislation of Nouvelle Alexandrie brought before the 14th Cortes Federales by the Council of State of the Federal Accord. It prohibits the display of paramilitary force and the display of intimidation, and it prohibits the private organizations that exist to usurp the functions of the state's forces or to advance a political object by force. It draws those prohibitions from two earlier measures that never became law, the defeated Public Order (Paramilitary and Intimidatory Displays) Act, 1759 and the unenacted Prohibition of Paramilitary Organizations Act, 1730, and it carries them within a single framework that couples those prohibitions with express protections of civil liberty.

The Act is built to the design that its predecessor failed to secure. It reaches only conduct done with intent or recklessness; it protects peaceful assembly, expression, and ceremonial, cultural, religious, sporting, and historical activity by name; it allows no organization to be proscribed except by the High Court of Justice, and no assembly to be prohibited except by a court; it subjects every power it confers to a test of proportionality and a high standard of proof; it places the oversight of those powers with the Federal Police Committee; and it provides that its powers to proscribe organizations lapse after five years unless the Cortes Federales renews them. These are the guarantees on account of which the Federal Consensus Party, whose abstention was decisive in the defeat of the 1759 AN measure, brings the redraft forward.

Background

The Federation's law on public order had reached the new term in two unfinished pieces. The Prohibition of Paramilitary Organizations Act, 1730, brought by Deputy Gabrielle Fitzgerald of the Democratic Socialist Party in the 8th Cortes Federales after the clashes of the Nouveau Wave and the Humanist Vanguard before the 1729 AN election, would have banned private paramilitary organizations, their financing, their recruitment, and their use of digital platforms, with penalties reaching twenty years; it remained at the introduced stage and never received Royal Assent. The Public Order (Paramilitary and Intimidatory Displays) Act, 1759, brought by the independent Deputy Piti Gándara in the 13th Cortes Federales after the Parade of Lassos and Nooses staged by the Humanist Vanguard in 1758 AN, took a narrower and more careful form, prohibiting paramilitary and intimidatory displays while protecting lawful assembly and reserving proscription to the High Court; it was defeated in the Federal Assembly on 20.VII.1759 AN by 258 votes to 372, with 119 abstentions. The Federal Humanist Party voted against it; the Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie, the Civic Governance Alliance, and every independent voted in favor; and the Federal Consensus Party abstained, its 119 votes enough to have carried the measure had they been cast for it.

The constitutional footing of both attempts was Article 19(5) of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, which permits reasonable restrictions on assembly in the interests of public order and against a clear and present danger to the Federation, subject to the protections the Proclamation gives to expression, assembly, and the person. The objection that had cost the 1759 AN measure its majority was not that the Federation should tolerate private paramilitary forces or displays of intimidation, but that a law written against them might be turned against lawful protest, cultural display, or political opposition. The Federal Consensus Party withheld its votes rather than pass a measure it judged insufficiently guarded.

The Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 undertook to bring the measure again, redrawn so that the party which had abstained could support it. The agreement named the public-order and anti-paramilitary bill among the Government's first legislative undertakings, an Interior-led redraft of the stalled measure, and named the protection of civil liberties as a plank in its own right. This Act is that measure. It combines the two earlier texts, taking the careful architecture of the 1759 AN measure as its frame and the reach of the 1730 AN measure against organizations, their money, and their recruitment as its division on organizations, and it adds to both the guarantees that answer the reason the earlier attempt was withheld: a test of proportionality on every power, a high standard of proof, the oversight of the Federal Police Committee, and a sunset on the power to proscribe.

Key provisions

The Act is arranged in six Articles of division. The first states its purpose and defines its terms. The second prohibits the two kinds of display: the paramilitary display, the wearing of uniforms or insignia, the adoption of military formation or drill, or the bearing of weapons in a manner signifying the character of a military or paramilitary force; and the intimidatory display, the use at or near an assembly, a procession, or a dwelling of any symbol, gesture, or words that a reasonable person would understand as a threat of death or serious harm, or as celebrating or invoking the lynching or killing of a person. An intimidatory display is aggravated where it is directed at a person on account of a characteristic protected by the Proclamation or on account of that person's part in lawful public, professional, or political life. The second division also prohibits an assembly at or near a dwelling held to make an occupant fear for their safety.

The third division prohibits the quasi-military organization, the body organized, trained, or equipped to usurp the functions of the Federal Forces or the Federal Gendarmerie, to intimidate, or to advance a political object by force. It is an offense to organize such a body, to take part in its control or management, or to train its members in the use of force; mere membership is not an offense. Drawing on the measure of 1730, the division also prohibits the financing and material support of such a body, and its recruitment and promotion, including through a digital platform, but it reaches those acts only where they are done knowing the character of the body supported. Proscription is reserved to the High Court of Justice, on the application of the Secretary of Justice and after notice and a hearing; no minister and no resolution of the Cortes may proscribe a body, and only the control, management, or knowing support of a proscribed body is an offense.

The fourth division protects liberty. It provides that nothing in the Act limits peaceful assembly, lawful protest, the expression of opinion, or the wearing of religious, cultural, national, ceremonial, or occupational dress, unless the conduct is itself a paramilitary or intimidatory display; that no offense under Articles 4 to 6 is committed without intent or recklessness, so that innocent, inadvertent, or incidental conduct is not caught; and that the ceremonial, sporting, theatrical, educational, historical, and religious activities the earlier measure exempted remain exempt. It adds a general test of proportionality: a power under the Act may be exercised only where its exercise is necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim of public order, and on evidence sufficient to that standard. And it provides that any application of the Act beyond what Article 19(5) of the Proclamation permits is read as not applying to that extent.

The fifth division provides for enforcement and its oversight. The Federal Gendarmerie may direct that a prohibited display cease or that an object be removed, and may impose reasonable conditions on the time, place, and manner of an assembly, but only a court may prohibit an assembly, and there is no power to detain without charge. A court may make a prohibition or protection order, on the application of the Secretary of Justice or of a person at risk, after notice and a hearing and subject to variation. The oversight of every power the Act confers is placed with the Federal Police Committee established under the National Police Act, 1699, whose remit is extended to the review of the use of those powers and of their effect on the rights protected by the Proclamation, and the Committee reports upon them each year to the Cortes. Prosecutions are brought by or with the consent of the Secretary of Justice, and a prosecution touching a political party requires the Secretary's personal consent, reported to the Cortes.

The sixth division contains the offenses and the general provisions. Penalties follow the measured scale of the 1759 AN measure and not the heavier scale of 1730 AN: a display offense is punishable on summary conviction by a fine or imprisonment for up to one year; the organization, financing, or knowing support of a quasi-military body, an aggravated intimidatory display, and a repeated offense are punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to five years; and no offense under the Act carries the death penalty, which Article 10(4) of the Proclamation forbids. The Act complements and does not derogate from the Organized Crime Control Act, 1750 and the Proclamation. The Secretary of Justice lays an annual report before the Cortes. And the powers of proscription under Article 10 lapse at the end of the fifth year after commencement unless the Cortes Federales, by resolution of the Federal Assembly, renews them for a further period, so that the gravest of the Act's powers is held only on the continuing consent of the House.

Relationship to existing law

Measure	Status before this Act	What this Act does
Public Order (Paramilitary and Intimidatory Displays) Act, 1759	Defeated in the Federal Assembly, 20.VII.1759 (258 to 372, with 119 abstentions)	Carried forward as the frame of the Act: its displays, its judicial proscription, its protections, and its measured penalties are re-enacted with added safeguards.
Prohibition of Paramilitary Organizations Act, 1730	Introduced in the 8th Cortes; never received Royal Assent	Its reach against organizations, their financing, and their recruitment is carried into the division on organizations, recast to require knowledge and subjected to the Act's safeguards; its heavier penalties and its routing through the Department of Defense are not carried.
National Police Act, 1699	In force	The remit of the Federal Police Committee is extended to the oversight of the powers this Act confers; nothing else in the Act of 1699 AN is changed.
Organized Crime Control Act, 1750	In force	Complemented, not derogated from; the Acts operate together.
Proclamation of Punta Santiago	In force (constitutional)	The Act is made under Article 19(5) and is read down wherever it would exceed what that Article permits.

Legislative progress

Legislative progress

Stage	Date	Chamber	Action	Votes (Y-N-A)	Details
1	1760 AN	Federal Assembly	Introduction and first reading	-	Presented by the Council of State of the Federal Accord; co-sponsored by Francisco Gabaza (FCP) and Piti Gándara (Independent)
2	Second reading pending

Bill as submitted to the Hopper of the Federal Assembly, 1760 AN

Public Order and Liberties Act, 1760

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
prohibit paramilitary and intimidatory displays and the maintenance of private bodies organized to usurp public force or to intimidate; to carry forward within one framework the measures of the defeated Public Order (Paramilitary and Intimidatory Displays) Act, 1759 and of the unenacted Prohibition of Paramilitary Organizations Act, 1730; to prohibit the financing of, recruitment for, and promotion of quasi-military organizations; to provide for the proscription of such organizations by the High Court of Justice alone; to protect lawful assembly, expression, and ceremonial, cultural, religious, sporting, and historical activity; to require intent or recklessness for every offense and to subject the exercise of every power to a test of proportionality; to require the authorization of a court for the prohibition of an assembly; to place the oversight of the powers conferred by this Act with the Federal Police Committee; to provide that the powers to proscribe organizations lapse unless they are renewed by the Cortes Federales; among other purposes.

Public Order and Liberties Act, 1760

Presented by the Council of State
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 1760 AN.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Cortes Federales, in this present session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

ARTICLE I
PRELIMINARY

Article 1: Citation.

1. This Act may be cited as the Public Order and Liberties Act, 1760.

Article 2: Purpose.

1. This Act gives effect, within the limits of Article 19, paragraph 5, of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, to reasonable restrictions on assembly in the interests of public order and against a clear and present danger to the Federation.
2. The purposes of this Act are to protect persons from intimidation in the exercise of lawful assembly, expression, education, work, and public life; to prohibit the private organization of force in usurpation of the Federal Forces and the Federal Gendarmerie; and to do so while preserving, and not abridging, peaceful assembly and the freedom of expression.
3. This Act must be read and given effect in a manner compatible with the rights protected by Articles 15 and 19 of the Proclamation, and no provision of it is to be read as reaching further than paragraph 5 of Article 19 permits.

Article 3: Definitions.
In this Act:

1. "assembly" means two or more persons gathered in a public place, whether stationary or moving, and "procession" means an assembly proceeding along a route.
2. "public place" includes any place from which an assembly or a display is visible or audible to a person in a public place or in a dwelling.
3. "paramilitary display" means the display, at or in connection with an assembly or a procession, of any uniform, insignia, or emblem, the adoption of any formation, drilling, or marching in a military manner, or the bearing of any weapon or of any object resembling or representing a weapon, in a manner signifying association with, or the character or discipline of, a military or paramilitary force.
4. "intimidatory display" means the display or use, at or in the vicinity of an assembly, a procession, a dwelling, or a place of lawful activity, of any object, symbol, image, representation, gesture, or words that a reasonable person would understand as threatening death or serious bodily harm, or as signifying, celebrating, or invoking the lynching, hanging, or killing of a person.
5. "quasi-military organization" means any association, whether or not it has legal personality, that is organized, trained, or equipped to enable its members to usurp the functions of the Federal Forces or the Federal Gendarmerie, to intimidate others, or to promote a political object by the use, display, or threat of physical force.
6. "the Gendarmerie" means the Federal Gendarmerie established under the National Police Act, 1699; "the Committee" means the Federal Police Committee established under that Act; "the Secretary" means the Secretary of Justice; "the Court" means the High Court of Justice; and "the Proclamation" means the Proclamation of Punta Santiago.

ARTICLE II
PROHIBITED DISPLAYS

Article 4: Paramilitary displays.

1. A person must not organize a paramilitary display, take part in one, or knowingly supply a uniform, weapon, object, vehicle, or other material for use in one.
2. It is a defense to a charge under this Article that the conduct was an exempt activity under Article 13.

Article 5: Intimidatory displays.

1. A person must not engage in an intimidatory display with intent to intimidate another, or being reckless as to whether another is intimidated.
2. An offense under this Article is aggravated where the display is directed at a person on account of a characteristic listed in Article 9 of the Proclamation, or on account of that person's participation in lawful public, academic, professional, or political life.

Article 6: Intimidation at or near a dwelling.

1. A person must not take part in an assembly at or near the dwelling of another with intent that an occupant of the dwelling be made to fear for their safety, or being reckless as to whether an occupant is so made to fear.
2. This Article does not apply to a lawful assembly in a public place that is not directed at the occupant of a particular dwelling.

ARTICLE III
QUASI-MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS

Article 7: Quasi-military organizations.

1. A person must not organize or train a quasi-military organization, take part in its control or management, or train its members in the use or display of force.
2. Membership of a quasi-military organization is not, of itself, an offense under this Act in the absence of conduct described in paragraph 1 or in Article 8.

Article 8: Financing and material support.

1. A person must not, knowing an organization to be a quasi-military organization, provide or solicit money, premises, equipment, or other material support for it.
2. A body corporate or other legal person that provides material support to a quasi-military organization knowing its character commits an offense, and the Court may in addition order the forfeiture of the support provided.
3. No offense is committed under this Article by a person who did not know, and could not reasonably have known, the character of the organization supported.

Article 9: Recruitment and promotion.

1. A person must not, knowing an organization to be a quasi-military organization, recruit or seek to recruit another to it.
2. A person must not, knowing an organization to be a quasi-military organization, promote it, solicit support or funds for it, or publish material to those ends, including by means of a digital platform.
3. This Article does not reach the reporting of a matter of public interest, the expression of opinion, or academic, artistic, or historical work, and is subject to Article 11.

Article 10: Proscription by the High Court.

1. On the application of the Secretary, the Court may declare an organization proscribed if it is satisfied, on evidence to the standard required by Article 14, that the organization is a quasi-military organization, or that it is a political party or an associated body that fails the requirements of Article 7 of the Proclamation.
2. Before making a declaration, the Court must give notice to the organization and to any person appearing to be affected, and must give them the opportunity to be heard; and a person affected may apply to be joined.
3. Where an organization stands proscribed, a person must not take part in its control or management, or, knowing it to be proscribed, solicit or provide money, premises, or material support for it.
4. No organization may be proscribed except by the Court under this Article; no instrument of a minister and no resolution of the Cortes Federales may proscribe an organization.
5. A declaration under this Article is subject to Articles 52 and 53 of the Proclamation, and the Court may on application vary or discharge it.

ARTICLE IV
PROTECTION OF LIBERTY

Article 11: Protection of lawful assembly and expression.

1. Nothing in this Act limits peaceful assembly, lawful protest or procession, the expression of opinion, or the wearing of religious, cultural, national, ceremonial, or occupational dress, unless the conduct is a paramilitary display or an intimidatory display.
2. This Act must be construed consistently with Articles 15 and 19 of the Proclamation, and no provision of it is to be read as reaching further than paragraph 5 of Article 19 permits.

Article 12: Mental element.

1. A person does not commit an offense under Article 4, Article 5, or Article 6 unless the person acted with intent to make the display, with intent to intimidate, or being reckless as to intimidation.
2. Conduct that is innocent, inadvertent, or incidental is not an offense under this Act.

Article 13: Exemptions.

1. This Act does not apply, where the conduct is not an intimidatory display, to:

   (a) ceremonial, sporting, theatrical, cinematic, educational, or historical activity, including historical re-enactment;

   (b) religious observance and the articles of religious observance;

   (c) the lawful activities of the Federal Forces, the Gendarmerie, and the regional constabularies; or

   (d) an assembly that the Secretary exempts by regulation.

2. A regulation under paragraph 1(d) must be laid before the Cortes Federales.

Article 14: Proportionality and standard of proof.

1. A power conferred by this Act must not be exercised unless its exercise is necessary and proportionate to a legitimate aim of public order within Article 19, paragraph 5, of the Proclamation.
2. The Court must not make a declaration under Article 10 or an order under Article 17 unless it is satisfied on the balance of probabilities, and to a standard of proof commensurate with the gravity of the consequences, that the grounds for it are made out.
3. Where a power may be exercised in more than one way, the least restrictive means adequate to the aim must be chosen.

Article 15: Construction with the Proclamation.

1. Any provision of this Act that would, in its application to a person or circumstance, exceed the restrictions permitted by Article 19, paragraph 5, of the Proclamation is to be read as not applying to that extent, and the remainder of the Act is unaffected.

ARTICLE V
ENFORCEMENT AND OVERSIGHT

Article 16: Powers of the Gendarmerie.

1. A member of the Gendarmerie may direct a person to cease a paramilitary display or an intimidatory display, or to remove or put away an object used in one.
2. A member of the Gendarmerie may impose reasonable conditions on the time, place, or manner of an assembly for the purpose of preventing an offense under Article 4, Article 5, or Article 6.
3. Only the Court may prohibit an assembly; this Act confers no power to detain a person otherwise than by arrest for an offense on the ordinary conditions of arrest, and no power to detain without charge.
4. A person must not, without reasonable excuse, fail to comply with a lawful direction given under this Article.

Article 17: Prohibition and protection orders.

1. On the application of the Secretary or of a person at whom conduct is directed, the Court may make an order prohibiting a specified paramilitary display or intimidatory display, or a specified assembly, at or near a specified place or dwelling.
2. Before making an order, the Court must give notice to any person to be bound and give them the opportunity to be heard, and a person bound may apply to vary or discharge the order.
3. A person must not, without reasonable excuse, breach an order under this Article.
4. This Article does not diminish any other jurisdiction of the Court to make a protective order.

Article 18: Oversight by the Federal Police Committee.

1. The oversight of the powers conferred by this Act is placed with the Committee, and the matters on which the Committee deliberates and resolves under Article 8 of the National Police Act, 1699 are extended to include the exercise of those powers and its effect on the rights protected by the Proclamation.
2. The Bureau of Professional Integrity of the Gendarmerie must review the use of the powers conferred by Articles 16 and 17, and must report any unlawful or disproportionate use to the Committee and to the Secretary.
3. The Committee must have regard, in the exercise of its functions under this Act, to the protection of the privacy of communications and of personal data in the use of the powers conferred by this Act.

Article 19: Prosecution.

1. Proceedings for an offense under this Act are brought by or with the consent of the Secretary.
2. Where the accused is alleged to have acted for or with a political party, the personal consent of the Secretary is required, and the giving of that consent must be reported to the Cortes Federales.

ARTICLE VI
GENERAL

Article 20: Offenses and penalties.

1. A person who commits an offense under Article 4, Article 5, paragraph 1, Article 6, or Article 16, paragraph 4, is liable on summary conviction to a fine, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.
2. A person who commits an offense under Article 7, Article 8, Article 9, or Article 10, paragraph 3, an aggravated offense under Article 5, paragraph 2, or a repeated offense under this Act, is liable to a fine, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both.
3. No offense under this Act is punishable by death, as Article 10, paragraph 4, of the Proclamation requires.
4. In sentencing for an offense under this Act, the court must have regard to the degree of intimidation and to the role of the person, and must distinguish the organizer of an offense from a participant in it.

Article 21: Relationship to other law.

1. This Act complements, and does not derogate from, the Organized Crime Control Act, 1750 and the Proclamation.

Article 22: Annual report.

1. The Secretary must lay before the Cortes Federales each year a report on the directions given, the orders and declarations made, the proscriptions in force, and the prosecutions brought under this Act, together with the report of the Committee under Article 18.

Article 23: Review and sunset of the power to proscribe.

1. The power of proscription conferred by Article 10, and the offenses under Article 10, paragraph 3, that depend on a subsisting proscription, cease to have effect at the end of the fifth year after the commencement of this Act, unless the Cortes Federales, by resolution of the Federal Assembly, renews them before that time.
2. A renewal under paragraph 1 has effect for a further period not exceeding five years, and the power may be renewed again in the same manner.
3. The expiry of the power of proscription does not affect the remainder of this Act, and does not affect anything done while the power was in force, save that a subsisting proscription ceases to have effect on expiry.
4. Before the end of the fourth year after commencement, the Secretary must lay before the Cortes Federales a review of the operation of this Act, to inform the decision whether to renew.

Article 24: Commencement.

1. This Act extends to the entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie.
2. This Act comes into force on receiving the Royal Assent of His Majesty King Sinchi Roca II, and must be published in the Gazette within seven days of the Assent.
3. If any provision of this Act is held to be beyond the power of the Cortes Federales or incompatible with the Proclamation, that provision is severable and the remainder continues in force.

Amendments

None.

Voting record

To be recorded on the disposal of the Bill by the Federal Assembly.

See also

• Public Order (Paramilitary and Intimidatory Displays) Act, 1759
• Prohibition of Paramilitary Organizations Act, 1730
• National Police Act, 1699
• Parade of Lassos and Nooses
• Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759
• Proclamation of Punta Santiago