"Freedom of Assembly" and the Right to Passage in Modern English Legal History

This Article explores the "right to passage" and its corollary, the nuisance doctrine of "obstruction of the highway" in modern English legal history. The author traces the origins of these doctrines and examines critical periods in history when the right to passage was used to cope with street demonstrations. She argues that the general pattern throughout history of under-enforcing obstruction law nourished a popular belief in a right to assemble that was inconsistent with the formal legal status of meetings. She concludes that since the 1960s, this has prompted increasing calls for formal recognition of "freedom of assembly."