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United Kingdom legislation
Defence of the Realm Act 1914
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title
An Act to confer on His Majesty in Council power to make Regulations during the present War for the Defence of the Realm.
Citation
4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 29
Territorial extent
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Dates
Royal assent
8 August 1914
Commencement
8 August 1914
Other legislation
Amended by
Defence of the Realm (No.2) Act 1914
Defence of the Realm Act 1915
Repealed by
Defence of the Realm Consolidation Act 1914
Status: Repealed
Text of statute as originally enacted
The Defence of the Realm Act 1914 (4 & 5 Geo. 5. c. 29) (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after the country entered the First World War. It was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the power to requisition buildings or land needed for the war effort, and to make regulations creating criminal offences.
DORA ushered in a variety of authoritarian social control mechanisms,[1] such as censorship:
"No person shall by word of mouth or in writing spread reports likely to cause disaffection or alarm among any of His Majesty's forces or among the civilian population"[2]
Anti-war activists, including John MacLean, Willie Gallacher, John William Muir, and Bertrand Russell, were sent to prison. The film, The Dop Doctor, was prohibited under the Act by the South African government with the justification that its portrayal of Boers during the Siege of Mafeking would antagonise Afrikaners.[3][4]
The activities no longer permitted included flying kites, starting bonfires, buying binoculars, feeding wild animals bread, discussing naval and military matters and buying alcohol on public transport. Alcoholic drinks were watered down and pub opening times were restricted to 12 noon–3pm and 6:30pm–9:30pm. (The requirement for an afternoon gap in permitted hours lasted in England until the Licensing Act 1988.)
In 1920 DORA was extended to deal with the violence in Ireland (see Irish War of Independence) with the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act 1920. That Act (under Section 3(6)) allowed military authorities to jail any Irish person without charge or trial and was repealed in 1953.[5]
^Rodney Mace (1999). British Trade Union Posters: An Illustrated History. Sutton Publishing. p. 57. ISBN 0750921587.
^Defence of the Realm (No. 2) Regulations, 1914, s. 4, at "No. 28887". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 September 1914. pp. 6968–6969.
^Parsons, Neil (1 September 2013). "Nation-Building Movies Made in South Africa (1916–18): I.W. Schlesinger, Harold Shaw, and the Lingering Ambiguities of South African Union". Journal of Southern African Studies. 39 (3): 641–659. doi:10.1080/03057070.2013.827003. S2CID 143079921. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
^""The Dop Doctor."". Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957). 17 June 1916. p. 19. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
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