Preventing the Parade: The Party Processions Acts in Ireland and Canada

Abstract

ABSTRACTDuring the first half of the nineteenth century, the British Empire was plagued by sectarian violence. Much of this disorder was related to the activities of the Orange Order. Every July 12, Orangemen celebrated Protestant political dominance with processions, bonfires, and, frequently, riots. By the late 1820s, the violence reached a crescendo. In 1832, Parliament passed the Party Processions Act for Ireland, which prohibited armed assemblies and all gatherings in which participants carried inflammatory banners or other offensive symbols. In spite of the controversy surrounding the law’s application, necessity, and enforcement, the Province of Canada followed suit in 1843. Although both Ireland and Canada saw increasingly violent Twelfth clashes during the 1840s, their responses to the annual challenge to public order diverged. This article compares this innovation in legislating public order in the context of the movement toward centralized control of law enforcement in the British transatlantic empire.