About the Riot Act

We've heard the phrase "read the riot act" all our lives. But until today, I never knew much about its origin or that the reading of the Riot Act once literally involved matters of life or death.

According to one online dictionary:

The official Riot Act was enacted by Parliament in 1715 to discourage unlawful assembly and civic turbulence, although the first recorded use of the term Riot Act to refer to this legislation does not appear until 1731. The act provided that if 12 or more people gathered unlawfully or for purposes of disturbing the peace, a portion of the Riot Act would be read to them, and if the assembled did not disperse by one hour after this reading, they would be guilty of felony.

The felony punishment could be death without benefit of clergy:

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any persons unlawfully, riotously and tumultuously assembled together, to the disturbance of the publick peace,... shall be adjudged felony without benefit of clergy, and the offenders therein shall be adjudged felons, and shall suffer death as in case of felony, without benefit of clergy.

Again, from the online dictionary:

The Riot Act, which was not repealed until 1973, became a part of the public consciousness and developed an extended sense in the phrase to read the riot act, meaning “to warn forcefully.” The first use of riot act in this way is found in a work published in 1819: “She has just run out to read the riot act in the Nursery.”

I found it all very interesting. How about you?