Also known as: disturbing the peace · disturbs the peace · breach of the peace
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Conduct that constitutes a public offense by violence or that causes or is likely to cause an immediate disturbance of public order. The category supplies the doctrinal trigger for privileges to use force in defense of the peace and for limits on speech regulation aimed at preventing unrest.
Esme burned an American flag during a demonstration at the entrance to a federal wildlife preserve to protest drilling permits. Federal rangers arrested her under a preserve rule that prohibited flag desecration. The arrest turned on whether the regulation suppressed communicative impact without an imminent breach of the peace.
Derek Douglas sued the city after police failed to intervene in a violent disturbance near his home. The city defended on the ground that no municipal policy caused the officers' inaction. The claim required proof that the municipality had adopted a custom of tolerating breaches of the peace.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Daniel Diaz was arrested under a city ordinance that allowed officers to disperse groups suspected of gang activity. He argued the statute was unconstitutionally vague because it failed to define conduct likely to produce a breach of the peace. The court examined whether the law provided adequate notice of what behavior disturbed public order.
Demetrius Douglas played recordings attacking other religions while walking through a neighborhood. A listener became enraged and threatened violence. Officers arrested Douglas for conduct likely to cause an immediate breach of the peace. The court assessed whether the speech itself created the risk of public disorder.
Deborah Dunn purchased a home in a neighborhood subject to a racially restrictive covenant. Neighbors sought to enforce the covenant to prevent her occupancy. The court refused to allow state judicial power to maintain the private arrangement.
Darius Dixon burned an American flag at a political rally to express opposition to government policy. Police arrested him under a statute prohibiting flag desecration. The prosecution failed because the statute targeted the communicative message rather than any actual or imminent breach of the peace.
Conduct qualifies when it is done by violence or is likely to cause an immediate disturbance of public order. The Restatement definition focuses on the objective tendency to disrupt public tranquility rather than actual violence in every instance.
Fighting words are personally abusive epithets delivered face to face that are inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent response from an ordinary person. That likelihood of violence supplies the breach of the peace that permits criminal punishment consistent with the First Amendment.
Flag burning as political expression cannot be punished merely because it offends observers. Punishment is permissible only when the conduct creates an imminent breach of the peace or serves a compelling non-speech interest unrelated to suppressing the message.
A secured party may repossess collateral without judicial process only if the repossession can be accomplished without breach of the peace. Any use of force or threat that disturbs public order violates the statutory limitation.
…labels" of state law. N. A. A. C. P. v. Button, 371 U. S. 415, 429. Like insurrection, contempt, advocacy of unlawful acts, breach of the peace, obscenity, solicitation of legal business, and the various other formulae for the repression of expression that have been challenged in this court, libel can claim no talismanic immunity…