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Repeal of the Fraudulent Mediums Act
The government’s response to a petition requesting the Repeal of The Fraudulent Mediums Act is as follows:
‘The Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 will be repealed from April 2008 by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading 2007 (CPR’s) which implement the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD). The CPR’s include rules prohibiting conduct which misleads the average consumer and thereby causes, or is like to cause him, to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise’. Conduct could be deemed unfair if it deceives the average member of (i) the group to which it is directed or (ii) a clearly identifiable group of consumers who are particularly vulnerable to this type of practice. The original Act required proof that the medium or healer was fraudulent. The changes will mean that a complainant can say they believe the medium or healer was fraudulent and it will be up to the medium or healer to prove they weren’t.
Spiritualism, and its associated practices, is a properly constituted religion recognised by an act of parliament. Spiritualism is a belief in life after death and one part of its practice is to show this through mediumship. Mediums can either be independent or affiliated to Spiritualist organisations. In other words you can be an independent medium and still a Spiritualist even though you don’t belong to a church group or consider yourself to be religious
The government’s response to a petition requesting the Repeal of The Fraudulent Mediums Act is as follows:
‘The Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 will be repealed from April 2008 by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading 2007 (CPR’s) which implement the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive (UCPD). The CPR’s include rules prohibiting conduct which misleads the average consumer and thereby causes, or is like to cause him, to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise’. Conduct could be deemed unfair if it deceives the average member of (i) the group to which it is directed or (ii) a clearly identifiable group of consumers who are particularly vulnerable to this type of practice. The original Act required proof that the medium or healer was fraudulent. The changes will mean that a complainant can say they believe the medium or healer was fraudulent and it will be up to the medium or healer to prove they weren’t.
Spiritualism, and its associated practices, is a properly constituted religion recognised by an act of parliament. Spiritualism is a belief in life after death and one part of its practice is to show this through mediumship. Mediums can either be independent or affiliated to Spiritualist organisations. In other words you can be an independent medium and still a Spiritualist even though you don’t belong to a church group or consider yourself to be religious
The Law and you
To try and summarise this in a few words is difficult but it would seem that if any money or gifts change hands the spiritual worker is involved in a contract.
As with any contract you are promising something in exchange for money or gifts. Thus the spiritual worker should choose their words carefully. It would seem that saying that it is a scientific experiment in which the outcome cannot be satisfactorily predicted is one way to stay within the legislation. Another is to class it as entertainment.
The biggest problem of the regulations is the word ‘vulnerable’. It is extremely difficult to define vulnerability let alone work out whether someone who comes to you for a ‘spiritualistic’ (the government’s term – not ours) service is vulnerable. It could probably be argued that quite a few people who seek healing or mediums are vulnerable. In short, it would seem the changes in legislation are a minefield, not least because of the litigation culture that is now sweeping the UK.
Further Updates as available
To try and summarise this in a few words is difficult but it would seem that if any money or gifts change hands the spiritual worker is involved in a contract.
As with any contract you are promising something in exchange for money or gifts. Thus the spiritual worker should choose their words carefully. It would seem that saying that it is a scientific experiment in which the outcome cannot be satisfactorily predicted is one way to stay within the legislation. Another is to class it as entertainment.
The biggest problem of the regulations is the word ‘vulnerable’. It is extremely difficult to define vulnerability let alone work out whether someone who comes to you for a ‘spiritualistic’ (the government’s term – not ours) service is vulnerable. It could probably be argued that quite a few people who seek healing or mediums are vulnerable. In short, it would seem the changes in legislation are a minefield, not least because of the litigation culture that is now sweeping the UK.
Further Updates as available
