From the Ben Schott novel "Schott's Original Miscellany":

THE RIOT ACT

'Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the Act made in the firstyear of King George the First for preventing tumults and rioutous assemblies. God Save the King.'

Under the Riot Act 1714, once a magistrate had read this passage within the hearing of a crowd greater than twelve, the 'rioters' had one hour to disperse before their presence ceased to be a misdemeanour and became a felony, ultimately punishable by death. The wording had to be read exactly as written, since at least one conviction was overturned because 'God Save the King' had been left out. The Riot Act was repealed in 1973.

was it ever stated if this is where they got it from, or that is was a play on the patriot act, or both?

I don't know. I always thought that it was just a play on the Patriot Act, but there IS an actual Riot Act, as I've just pointed out....

"he's reading him the riot act" is a common expression for describing someone who's yelling at someone else about a mistake they made or something they did wrong etc.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-rea1.htm

[Q] From Gloria Spielman: “What is the origin of the expression to read someone the riot act?”

[A] These days, it’s just a figurative expression meaning to give an individual or a group a severe scolding or caution, or to announce that some unruly behaviour must cease. But originally it was a deadly serious injunction to a rioting crowd to disperse.

The Riot Act was passed by the British government in 1715. This was the period of the Catholic Jacobite riots, when mobs opposed to the new Hanoverian king, George I, were attacking the meeting houses of dissenting groups. There was a very real threat of invasion by supporters of the deposed Stuart kings—as actually happened later that year and also in 1745. The government feared uprisings, and passed a draconian law making it a felony if a group of more than twelve persons refused to disperse more than an hour after magistrates had told them to do so. To invoke the law, the magistrates had to read the relevant section of the Act aloud to the mob, something that often required courage:

Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons being assembled immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George for preventing tumultuous and riotous assemblies. God save the King.

The pains or penalties were penal servitude for life or not less than three years, or imprisonment with or without hard labour for up to two years. The Act remained in force for a surprisingly long time, only finally being repealed in 1973, though it had been effectively defunct for decades.

WOW! I didn't know Pearl Jam was all historical and shit

They can, like, read too. Fucking wild.