Using non-technical, accessible language, this book analyses the laws, regulations, customs, and norms that affect public protest. It explains how the law of public protest imposes a system of 'managed dissent,' which has led to overly broad and punitive limits on public expression and collective protest.

The mass street demonstrations that followed the 2020 police murder of George Floyd were perhaps the largest in American history. These events confirmed that even in a digital era, people rely on public dissent to communicate grievances, change public discourse, and stand in collective solidarity with others. However, the demonstrations also showed that the laws surrounding public protest make public contention more dangerous, more costly, and less effective. Police fired tear gas into peaceful crowds, used physical force against compliant demonstrators, imposed broad curfews, limited the...