Odger's English Common Law

16
PUBLIC RIGHTS.
cause any obstruction to a highway or so conduct themselves
as to become an unlawful assembly.
" There is no doubt that the people of this country have a perfect right to
meet for the purpose of stating what are, or even what they consider to
be, their grievances. That right they always have had, and I trust always
will have ; but in order to transmit that right unimpaired to posterity, it
is necessary that it should be regulated by law and restrained by reason." 1
" The people of this country are undoubtedly entitled to assemble in a
peaceable manner for the real and bond fide purpose of discussing any
subject of interest, not having itself any criminal tendency, or for the
purpose of preparing proper and respectful petitions to Her Majesty or to
either House of Parliament, and such meetings, having really such objects,
being peaceably and quietly conducted, cannot be said to be unlawful and
riotous. 2 Whether any particular meeting be of a lawful or unlawful
description must depend on the circumstances under which it is held, the
manner in which it is brought together and the conduct of those who
attend it." 3
From these absolute rights flow corresponding duties,
equally absolute, for it is the duty of every one to pay full
regard to the rights of others, and to give to every one else
what is legally his due.
It is the duty of every citizen to assist in the administration of justice,
to interfere personally to prevent any breach of the peace, to aid in the
detection of crime and in the capture of criminals, to attend as a witness
to give evidence, to serve on all juries to which he is properly summoned,
and to find true verdicts in any proceedings, civil or criminal, or on a
coroner's inquisition.
Again, every householder in whose house a dead body is lying is bound
at common law to have it decently interred, if no one else comes forward to
undertake the duty. Dead bodies cast up by the sea or any navigable
river, or floating or sunken in any such waters, if unclaimed by their
relatives, must be buried by the churchwardens and overseers of the parish
in which they are fouud in the churchyard and at the expense of that
i Per Alderson, B., in his charge to the grand jury in S. v. Vincent (1839), 9 C. &
P. 91.
2 Order at such a meeting is protected by the Public Meeting Act, 1908 (8 Edw. VII.,
o. 66).
8 Per Patteson, J., in his charge to a Middlesex grand jury
*
in 1848. See
Unlawful Assembly, post, p. 160.
.' Burial of Drowned Persons Acts, 1808 and 1886 (48 Geo. III., c. 75 ; 49 Vict,
c. 20).
,