Newly published:
Emeline E. K. Diener, Fines and Portents: Pennsylvania's Criminalization of Fortune-Telling and Magical Rituals, 42 Pennsylvania Lawyer 22.
The article begins:
As provided in part at 18 Pa.C.S.A., Part II, Ch. 71, Sports and Amusements, Section 7104, Fortune telling, Offense defined. "A person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree if he pretends, for gain or lucre, to tell fortunes or predict future events, by cards, tokens, the inspection of the head or hands of any person, or by the age of anyone, or by consulting the movements of the heavenly bodies, or in any other manner." The statute has been in effect since 1861, most recently reenacted in 1939 and 1972. The penalty is one year in prison or a $ 2,500 fine. We aren't the only state that criminalizes fortune-telling for a fee; New York and Oklahoma do, too. Massachusetts regulates it by requiring that the seer be licensed and pay a license fee to the municipality, in which (s)he must have resided for at least a year. (Get that? The infamous town of Salem now licenses witches! Funny ol' world!)
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