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From beyond the grave: the legal regulation of mediumship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2012

Steve Greenfield ,
Guy Osborn  and
Stephanie Roberts
Steve Greenfield
Affiliation:
School of Law, University of Westminster
Guy Osborn*
Affiliation:
School of Law, University of Westminster
Stephanie Roberts
Affiliation:
School of Law, University of Westminster
*
g.osborn@wmin.ac.uk
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Abstract

In recent years there has been an increased interest in mediumship. This has been part of a broader fascination with paranormal issues that has been fostered by new modes of dissemination and communication. This article focuses upon attempts made by the criminal law to regulate mediums, and, in particular, the disjunction between the ‘genuine medium’ and the ‘vulnerable consumer’. It charts historical approaches of the law and provides a critique of the current legal landscape, including the new regulatory framework under the Unfair Commercial Practice Regulations 2008, and the possibility of an action under the Fraud Act 2006. It concludes that the law has continually struggled to adequately deal with this phenomenon, and that the current regime is likely to prove similarly ineffective given the fundamental conceptual legal problem of proving what may be un-provable.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 2012 , pp. 97 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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