Jeremy Patrick – författare

The growing presence in Western society of non-mainstream faiths and spiritual practices poses a dilemma for the law. For example, if a fortune teller promises to tell the future in exchange for cash, and both parties believe in the process, has a fraud been committed? Building on a thorough history of the legal regulation of fortune-telling laws in four countries, Faith or Fraud examines the impact of people who identify as "spiritual but not religious" on the future legal understanding of religious freedom. Traditional legal notions of religious freedom were conceived in the context of organized religion. Jeremy Patrick examines how the law needs to adapt to a contemporary spirituality in which individuals can select concepts drawn from multiple religions, philosophies, and folklore to develop their own idiosyncratic belief systems. Faith or Fraud exposes the law's failure to recognize individual spirituality as part of modern religious practice, concluding that legal understanding of freedom of religion has not evolved along with religion itself.

The growing presence in Western society of non-mainstream faiths and spiritual practices poses a dilemma for the law. For example, if a fortune teller promises to tell the future in exchange for cash, and both parties believe in the process, has a fraud been committed? Building on a thorough history of the legal regulation of fortune-telling laws in four countries, Faith or Fraud examines the impact of people who identify as "spiritual but not religious" on the future legal understanding of religious freedom. Traditional legal notions of religious freedom were conceived in the context of organized religion. Jeremy Patrick examines how the law needs to adapt to a contemporary spirituality in which individuals can select concepts drawn from multiple religions, philosophies, and folklore to develop their own idiosyncratic belief systems. Faith or Fraud exposes the law's failure to recognize individual spirituality as part of modern religious practice, concluding that legal understanding of freedom of religion has not evolved along with religion itself.

​This book considers how legal history has shaped and continues to shape our shared present. Each chapter draws a clear and significant connection to a meaningful feature of our lives today. Focusing primarily on England and Australia, contributions show the diversity of approaches to legal history’s relevance to the present. Some contributors have a tight focus on legal decisions of particular importance. Others take much bigger picture overview of major changes that take centuries to register and where impact is still felt. The contributors are a mix of legal historians, practising lawyers, members of the judiciary, and legal academics, and develop analysis from a range of sources from statutes and legal treatises to television programs. Major legal personalities from Edward Marshall Hall to Sir Dudley Ryder are considered, as are landmarks in law from the Magna Carta to the Mabo Decision.

​This book considers how legal history has shaped and continues to shape our shared present. Each chapter draws a clear and significant connection to a meaningful feature of our lives today. Focusing primarily on England and Australia, contributions show the diversity of approaches to legal history’s relevance to the present. Some contributors have a tight focus on legal decisions of particular importance. Others take much bigger picture overview of major changes that take centuries to register and where impact is still felt. The contributors are a mix of legal historians, practising lawyers, members of the judiciary, and legal academics, and develop analysis from a range of sources from statutes and legal treatises to television programs. Major legal personalities from Edward Marshall Hall to Sir Dudley Ryder are considered, as are landmarks in law from the Magna Carta to the Mabo Decision.