262	THE   BRITISH   APPROACH   TO   POLITICS
It has therefore been easy to quote examples showing that
worthless productions are permitted, while serious and valuable
work has been banned because it was.outspoken. But if the Lord
Chamberlain attempted to act as a literary critic, it is unlikely
that either the public or the authors would be better pleased.
The showing of films is controlled by local authorities, which
are largely, though by no means wholly, guided by the decisions
of the British Board of Film Censors, a private body set up by
the film industry. The growth of societies for the showing of
particular kinds of film, and the use of non-inflammable films
free from the usual restrictions, are both factors which have
increased freedom in this direction.
Freedom of Meeting. Speeches made at meetings are subject
to the restrictions already described, and the actual holding pf a
meeting raises the further problems of obstruction and breach
of the peace. The former concerns only meetings held at street
corners, on commons, or in other public places. In such places,
everyone has a right to pass to and fro, and anyone, or any
number of people, may stop to talk or listen or do anything not
in itself unlawful, provided they do not obstruct the right of
passage;^ meeting which does obstruct may be dispersed. This
principle has to be applied with common sense; an attempt to
hold a meeting in Piccadilly Circus would clearly be illegal; on
the other hand, no one could require a peaceful meeting in Hyde
Park to be dispersed, so that he could walk across the site of it.
In practice, the local authorities and the police make regulations
stating what street corners or parts of parks may be used for
meetings. Citizens who consider that this power is being unreason-
ably exercised, may attempt to holcf meetings, and bring an action
against anyone who attempts to disperse them; the question will
thus be referred to the courts for decision.
As to the latter restriction, the general principle may be stated
as follows:—no one may commit a breach of the peace, and a
meeting which does so becomes an unlawful assembly; every
citizen has a duty to stop breaches of the peace, and this duty is