Martial law

From Wiki 24

Martial law is a system of rules that enables the military to take over the normal adminstration of justice. Martial law is declared in states of emergency, or at any time that events could lead to civil unrest within the population. Curfews are often put into effect during states of martial law.

[edit] Day 5

A little after 6:00pm on Day 5, Vice President Hal Gardner requested that President Charles Logan enforce martial law in order to help aid the search for the nerve gas. Logan was at first skeptical about the idea, believing that martial law would encite chaos rather than contain it.

With added pressure from Gardner and the recent nerve gas attack on CTU, Logan declared martial law in Los Angeles at approximately 8:04pm. Later, Chloe O'Brian left CTU with help from Karen Hayes and Bill Buchanan and stayed at Bill's house for a short while. When Karen warned Bill that DHS agents were coming, Chloe escaped to a hotel bar while the curfew was still in effect.

The curfew remained in effect for the rest of the day, even though Logan believed the threat to be over after midnight.