Memories Growing Up in Jamaica - The Obeah man does he have supernatural Powers?

 The Obeah Law, 1898 (Jamaica)

The Obeah Law passed in Jamaica in 1898 remains in force, with a few minor amendments, today. It was passed after a period during which the law regulating obeah was revised several times in quick succession. Its main purpose was to make it easier to secure convictions for obeah. It made possession of ‘instruments of obeah’–very vaguely defined as ‘any thing used, or intended to be used by a person, and pretended by such person to be possessed of any occult or supernatural power’–proof that someone was a ‘person practicing obeah’. It also made it illegal to ‘consult’ an obeah practitioner, and to publish pamphlets relating to obeah. The Act also defined ‘obeah’ and ‘myalism’ as the same thing. The Act was used as a model by the government of the Leeward Islands, which passed a similar act in 1904.In November 2012, the government of Jamaica brought forward a law to amend the Obeah Act by removing the punishment of flogging. This was part of a wider policy to remove flogging from the criminal justice system. In the parliamentary debate about the bill, former Prime Minister Edward Seaga questioned the criminalisation of myalism by the act. However, under the revised law, both obeah and ‘myalism’ would remain illegal, and punishable with a prison sentence.