In 1939, in the first such case, the court voided a permit plan in Jersey City, New Jersey. This plan had given absolute power to the director of public safety to decide who could assemble in public places and who could not. The court said that no city official may deny the right to assemble because of a personal whim. It said laws regulating permits for the use of public property should be based only on safety standards that all groups could know in advance. In other countries.
All democratic governments recognize some form of freedom of assembly.
But none of them uphold it to the degree established by the U.S. Constitution. The United Kingdom generally permits peaceful assemblies. But the British police have considerable power to prohibit or disband large gatherings as they think necessary. In several instances in the 1900's, the British government exercised emergency powers to suppress public meetings, even on private premises. In Canada, the 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms specifically guarantees the right of peaceful assembly.