A violation of the public tranquillity and order. The offense of breaking or disturbing the public peace by any riotous, forcible, or unlawful proceeding. 4 Bl. Comm. 142. ct scq.; People v. Bartz, 53 Mich. 493, 19 X. W. 161; State v. White, 18 R. I. 473, 28 Atl. 968; People v. Wallace. 85 App. Div. 170, 83 N. Y. Supp. 130; Scougale v. Sweet, 124 Mich. 311, 82 N. W. 1061. A constructive breach of the peace is an unlawful act which, though wanting the elements of actual violence or injury to any person, is yet inconsistent with tiie peaceable and orderly conduct of society. Various kinds of misdemeanors are included in this general designation , such as sending challenges to fight, going armed in public without lawful reason and in a threatening manner, etc. An apprehended breach of the peace is caused by the conduct of a man who threatens another with violence or physical injury , or who goes about in public with dangerous and unusual weapons in a threatening or alarming manner, or who publishes an aggravated libel upon another, etc.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
