Court was wrong in fortune teller case
In the name of free speech, the Maryland Court of Appeals has given a green light to a “businessman” in the only known “business” where one absolutely must lie to his customers. By definition, a “fortune” teller must lie, that is, that he has supernatural psychic powers, or else he is not a fortune teller.
In Nefredo v. Montgomery County, the Court of Appeals has said as a matter of fact that it knows how the business of fortune telling works better than the legislature of Montgomery County. It has rejected a county ordinance prohibiting a business license to persons who solicit or receive money as fortune tellers.
The court, wearing blinders, stated, “We see nothing in the record to suggest that fortunetelling always involves fraudulent statements.” Wow. Aside from that weakest of reeds, how about the statement, “I tell fortunes?” Can that not possibly be anything but a lie, and when money is sought for it, fraud?
The annals of crime are overloaded with instances of conmen who prey on the desperate and the gullible by claiming psychic powers.
Continue Reading HERE