Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

In force Jan.[January] 31, 1835.

AN ACT regulating the mode of granting License to Clock Pedlers.
1

Prohibited from selling without license.

Amount of license.

Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That no auctioneer, vender, pedler or other person shall hereafter be permitted to auctioneer, vend, peddle, sell, lease, hire, or traffic at public auction, or private sale, any clock, wooden, metal or composition, without first having obtained from the clerk of the county commissioners’ court of the county in which he so vends, leases, hires, sells or peddles the same, a license for so doing, for which he shall first pay into the county treasury of the county the sum of fifty dollars, which license, when so granted, shall authorize the person therein named, to sell, vend, peddle, lease, hire, or traffic in the county only where such license may have been obtained, for the term of three 2 months from the time of granting such license.

Penalty for selling without license.

Proviso.

Sec. 2. Should any person or persons attempt to sell,

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hire, lease, traffic or vend any clock, or clocks, to any person whatever, without first having obtained a license as aforesaid, and without first having exhibited the same to the person or persons he offers or attempts to sell, lease or traffic the same to, shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifty dollars for each offence, one half to the use of the informer, and the other half for the use of the county, which sum shall be recoverable before any justice of the peace in said county, and the offender liable to indictment as in other cases of misdemeanors: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent citizens of this State from vending, leasing, or hiring any clock in the common way of deal, such citizens not being obviously pedlers in such traffic.

Duty of county officers in relation thereto.

Sec. 3. It shall be the duty of the county commissioners, sheriffs, coroners, justices of the peace, constables and clerks of the several courts in this State, and lawful for any other person in case of their neglect, to cause all persons who shall violate the provisions of this act, to be sued for the aforesaid penalties, and the suit or suits caused to be prosecuted to effect, and bail may be required in such cases without affidavit, if the court or justice in their discretion shall deem the same necessary to secure the county in the ultimate payment of any such penalty. So much of the act, entitled “An act requiring merchants, auctioneers, pedlers, and others engaged in the sale of goods, wares, and merchandize in this State, to procure a license for that purpose, under the penalties therein prescribed,” approved, February 6th, 1831, as relates to clock pedlers, be, and the same is hereby repealed.3

[ certification ]
01/31/1835
Field, Alexander P.

Certificate.

This bill having remained with the Council of Revision ten days, Sundays excepted, and the General Assembly being in session, it has become a law, this 31st day of January, 1835.
A. P. FIELD,
Sec. of State.

1On December 10, 1834, the House of Representatives passed a resolution instructing the Committee on Finance to inquire into the propriety of licensing clock peddlers. In response to this resolution, John D. Whiteside from the Committee on Finance introduced HB 45 in the House on December 23. On December 24, the House referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary reported back the bill on December 30 with amendments. The House concurred in the first, second, third, and fifth amendments, but rejected the fourth. On December 31, the House referred the bill to a select committee. The select committee reported back the bill on January 3, 1835, with an amendment, in which the House concurred. The House amended the first section by striking out the word “six” and inserting the word “three.” The House passed the bill as amended. The Senate concurred on January 12. The Council of Revision not acting within ten days of the bill’s submission, the act became law on January 31.
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 97, 149, 159, 181, 191, 204-05, 281, 303, 312; Illinois Senate Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 177, 191, 199-200, 219, 267, 268.

2On January 3, 1835, the House of Representatives amended the bill by striking out the word “six” and inserting the word “three.”
Illinois House Journal. 1835. 9th G. A., 1st sess., 204.

3The original act did not specify that the rate should be $50 and did not set the term of the license at three months.
“An Act Requiring Merchants, Auctioneers, Pedlars, and Others Engaged in the Sale of Goods, Wares, and Merchandize in this State, to Procure a License for that Purpose, Under the Penalties Therein Prescribed,” 16 February 1831, The Laws of Illinois (1831), 89-92.