The law against repetitive beats

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Section 63 of the UK's Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 says “music” includes “a succession of repetitive beats” – the rave law, still in force.

It never banned the beat. It moved the party on.

Facts

  • Section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 lets a senior police officer order people to leave a loud outdoor gathering at night that is likely to cause “serious distress” to local residents. For this purpose, “music” includes sounds “wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats”.
  • The Act received Royal Assent on 3 November 1994. The threshold was 100 people until 20 January 2004, when the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 cut it to 20 in England and Wales and extended the power to trespassers' raves inside buildings; Scotland's version still says 100.
  • Refusing to leave, or returning within 7 days, can bring up to three months in prison and/or a fine. Police can also turn people back within 5 miles (s.65) and seize sound equipment (s.64).
  • The law is usually traced to the Castlemorton Common free party of May 1992, where estimates range from 20,000 to 40,000 people.
  • Autechre's Anti EP (Warp, 1994) carried a sticker warning that two of its tracks contain repetitive beats, while “Flutter” had been “programmed in such a way that no bars contain identical beats”. The profits went to the civil-liberties group Liberty.
  • Section 63 is still in force and still used: in May 2026 the Met cleared an unlicensed party in a former Argos in Dalston with it.

Sources

  1. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 63 (latest available) · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  2. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 63 (as enacted) · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  3. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, introductory text (as enacted) · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  4. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 172 (commencement and extent) · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  5. Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, section 58 (raves), as enacted · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  6. Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (Commencement No. 1 and Transitional Provisions) Order 2003, article 2 · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  7. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 64 · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  8. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, section 65 · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  9. Sentencing Act 2020, section 122 (the standard scale of fines) · legislation.gov.uk (The National Archives) checked 6 October 2026
  10. Hansard: Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, HL Deb 24 May 1994 · UK Parliament checked 6 October 2026
  11. BBC News: Castlemorton Common – the rave that changed the law (2017) · BBC News checked 6 October 2026
  12. The Guardian: Castlemorton triggers the rave crackdown (2011) · The Guardian checked 6 October 2026
  13. Vice: How UK ravers raged against the ban (2014) · Vice checked 6 October 2026
  14. Vice: How the political warning of Autechre's Anti EP made it a Warp Records classic (2014) · Vice checked 6 October 2026
  15. Discogs: Autechre – Anti EP (CD, WAP54CD), release notes · Discogs checked 6 October 2026
  16. Mixmag: Police shut down 100-strong illegal rave in abandoned East London Argos (2026) · Mixmag checked 6 October 2026

History, not legal advice.

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Script

In UK law, music includes repetitive beats. May 1992: 20,000–40,000 people at a free party on Castlemorton Common. In 1994 came section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. Here, music includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats. Outdoors, at night, causing serious distress: police can order everyone to leave. Autechre's answer, Flutter, came with a sticker: no bars contain identical beats. Since 2004 it takes just 20 people in England and Wales. Still in force. The law named the beat. The beat played on. Follow for the next cue.

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Sources last checked 6 October 2026.