S5 Public Order Act

Sorry for the fontsizes etc it has all gone slightly weird and even when I edit it back it just reverts to another weird form.

Last night whilst taking a bendy bus home from a light evening of seeing Sweeney Todd, (which by the way is highly recommended) myself and another law student encountered a man on the bus, talking into his phone saying how he had been arrested.

According to him he had 6 or so.. glasses of wine and was walking towards a bus stop in central london. A community police officer had stopped him and said that he was acting in a drunken manner. To which the man replied that he was fine and continued to walk on, the police officer did not seem to like this and told him to "calm down" to which the man's reply was "I am calm".
Apparently the Poo lice then dragged him to the side of the road, to which the man responded with "fuck off". He was then arrested so he said under s.5 of some act to which I said it could have been the Public Order Act, and was charged £80. His female friend who he also was with, who had been drinking the same amount tried to step in, however also got herself arrested.

So in my legal and slightly drunk state I advised him to appeal to the decision.
So as I got home I tried to look up the relevant legal jargon, however the computer screen was shaking at me in a disagreeable manner.

I managed to pull up some basic research though:
S5 Public Order Act 1986

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if he—
	(a)	uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or
	(b)	displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting,

DPP v Orum [1988] 3 All ER 449

A police officer is capable of being 'a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress' by 'threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior', for the purposes of s 5(1)a of the Public Order Act 1986. However, if he is not likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress by the words or behaviour used it is not likely that he will be able to arrest the person using the threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour under s 5(4) for offensive conduct, since the officer, if he is the only person present, will not be in a position to suspect that an offence under s 5(1) has been committed.

I suppose the man who liked his wine was arrested under s.5 because he swore in a public place and was perhaps viewed as being abusive, or using insulting words or behaviour.


And this
"Being drunk and disorderly is a crime and you may well be arrested or fined, rather than just told to quieten down. Being disorderly means being aggressive or abusive, or generally making a nuisance of yourself. Police can give you an on-the-spot fine of £80 for being drunk and disorderly. They can also arrest you if you are likely to be a danger to yourself or someone else, or if you are so drunk you won't remember being given an on-the-spot fine! If you are arrested you may have to sleep it off in the cells and may be charged in the morning."
from here

So he may in fact of been arrested under s.5 for using insulting words or abusive behaviour, or either for being drunk and disorderly.

Nice one Poo Lice.

Work

So whilst I spent last week mostly on mooting, and the week before was reading week, I have done no work my other subjects.

I stayed in bed for most of reading week because I could not be bothered to move and had no money to go out, what else is one supposed to do on reading week. I could have gone home however each day I was determined that when I woke up I would go and do some work however the temptations of my bed were too much.

Last week I spent a 24 hour stint on mooting and then the next day frantically trying to get it all organised and done with into a semi formal speech relying on my points, so that was about 28 hours on mooting. Only to have it fall flat on my face within the first minute, I decided to take Friday off and do nothing apart from go to a Criminology lecture which was sort of interesting I was more pissed off that I thought it was about police powers but it turned out that I had missed that lecture the week before.

So I am currrently stuck with an EU essay to do, obviously the most boring of a subject, so glad we only have it till december, I wouldn't touch EU law with a massive dildo professionally. Unforunately it seems that the topic its is on a topic I actually havent read about. Reasons for this being not out of lazyness but because I was under the naive impression that EU law like the REST of my subjects was every two weeks, however it turned out to be every week, so whilst I missed one due to my lack of organisation skills ( see any Moot post to prove this) I also missed another because I was ill - or was that just "ill" in the sense that I was hungover?

So I thoroughly have no idea what the EU essay is on, and it pains me to even look at the two choices we have for the paper due in on Thursday. Unfortunately I also have all my seminars this week, Tort, Criminology, Eu and the subject that the devil would find most confusing Equity&Trusts.

Now seeming as we are supposed to spend 20 hours of preparation for each seminar how many hours do I now need the week extended to so I can fit in all my seminar preparation and do my Eu Law essay? I'm not a mathematican, so I cannot be bothered out of fear mainly to work it out.

With work normally what happens with students is everything is done the night before in a panic, the sort of panic that goes "AHHH why didn't I do this earlier?" "why can't i motivate myself to work harder during the day"

One of my very first lectures in my first year we had a lecturer that said "we want you to work 9-5 mon-fri and then you can have the evenings and weekends off" if only I had really listened then.

Money and Work

Note: The rant about bursaries is about people who SCAM the system, or people who have a lot of money, but seem to get more anyway.


My room smells of smoke, because I am a dirty smoker, my flat mate is an ex smoker so really hates the smell, and I also really hate the smell when I walk into my room coming back from somewhere and the room just utterly stinks of fags, but I love smoking too much to give it up, althought I will have to because I have currently no money. I have reached the end of my overdraft and I am too afraid to ask Parents Bank Plc to give me money after I recently went through my online statements and have found out that they gave me enough money to last till mid december but somehow I have spent it all!!

How people manage to actually pay of their student debt I will never understand. I have a friend who works 40 hours a week ontop of the same law degree I do, how he managed to cope I will never know, but the fact that students get a loan and then have to work really shows that there is something very wrong with the system.

For example I have another friend who gets a full loan (no grant) which in London is £1500 for the September - December period. Now they have to pay rent, now in London even in the east where I live in matchbox houses and more often than not crack dens, rent is around £100 a week. £100 x 3 months of living = no loan. So students are literally forced to go into debt because the student finances twats will not give us more money.

What is more annoying is bursaries and grants, there are a fair number of people out there who receive both, yet back home have more luxury than I do ( I do not receive a grant or bursary )
the trick apparently is to put down one parents salary and not the others, so if you have one high income breadwinner, you just lie and say that you come from a single parent family or the other parent is retired, seems to be the way.

So whilst I have no money (though I do not pay rent so shouldnt really be complaining) others have lots who really shouldnt and should be in the same situation as me!!!

Now I do not want to seem snobby, I am well off enough that my parents can help me and I have friends whose parents cannot afford to keep them whilst they are at university. I am nagging about those people who apply for grants and bursaries, and seem to get them, when they are not eligbile to do so but get them anyway!!

Perhaps I should say that I have four kids living with me in my ex council house oh sorry it's called "ex local authority" then I would get an extra grand that I wouldn't have to pay back!

An Introduction

Hello there,
Let me introduce myself. I am a 19 year old male law student with delusions of perhaps one day practicing at the bar (however without that 1st class degree lets consider that it will be impossible and that im getting into thousands of pounds into debt for nothing)

I currently in my 2nd year Law LLB at a semi-prestigious London university good for Law but not a lot else according to the Guardian and The Times.

What else to write? I have other interests which normally have a higher priority than actually do law work such as going out to clubs and waking up the next morning wondering what I have done and who I have offended.

I hope to start this blog for other law students who feel that they don't quite cut the mustard with all the other bloggers out there, who seem so enthusiatically whimisical with every post that it makes us less presentable people feel a bit crap, and perhaps for all those students who can't seem to be stuck in the library 9-5 Monday to Friday because they can't even get themselves out of bed!

The title of this blog adequatelly describes how I feel, Lost (not the tv series), completly. While I can be hardworking I'm not the type that loves to study law, (perhaps a change in degree is needed) Like most law students I feel apathetic towards a degree that ultimately decides my career. A career in law almost seems like a joke in my current situation, am I an oxbridge graduate? Do I have a 1st? Do I have a 10 page CV full of extra curricular activities? No!
Oh well High Street Solicitor firm for me then.