The Master of the Rolls’ interpretation of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2006 (“the Act”), and in particular of the scope of sections 132 to 138, was that Parliament intended that the provisions should apply to both new demonstrations and demonstrations started before the coming into force of the Act, viz. before 1st August 2005. This was held to be clear from the wording of the Act itself, without the need to revert to the parliamentary debates reported in Hansard under the rule in Pepper v Hart.
An argument which lent support to this interpretation, and which Sir Anthony Clarke MR appeared to rely on heavily, was that section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 had been repealed in relation to ongoing demonstration, and Parliament would only have done so if its intention had been for ongoing demonstration to fall within the scope of the new provisions.
Read more on the Parliament Court Act here...