PEDLAR. This word is said by Dr. Jo son to be a contraction _.... from petty dealer, formed into a new term by long and familiar use ; and a pedlar is defined by him to be " one who travels the country with small commodities." The same writer defines a hawker to be " one who sells his wares by proclaiming them in the street." In legal understanding however a hawker is an itinerant trader, who goes about from place to place, carrying with him and selling goods ; and a pedlar is only a hawker in small wares. In the various acts of parliament which impose duties upon them and regulate their dealings, they are always named in conjunction as hawkers and pedlars; and no distinc tion is made between them.
It has been for more than a century the policy of English law to consider the conduct of trade by means of fixed establishments as more beneficial to the public than that of itinerant dealers ; and it cannot be denied that the local trader being better known and more dependent upon his character than one who continually travels from place to place, there is a greater security for the respectability of his dealings. In conformity with this policy, statutes have been passed from time to time, obliging hawkers and pedlars to take out licences and to submit to specific regulations and restrictions, which are supposed to protect the resident trader as well as the public from unfair dealing. These reasons however have been given ex post facto to justify the laws; for the statutes which originally required licences for hawkers and im posed these duties appear to have merely contemplated a means of increasing the revenue. (8 & 9 Wm. III., c. 25; and 9& 10 Wm. III.. c. 27.) The provisions by which the licences to hawkers and pedlars are now regulated are contained in the statute 50 Geo. III., e. 41; and the Amendment Act 52 Geo. III., c. 108. The duty of granting licences to hawkers and pedlars and enforcing the law against such persons is now entrusted to the commissioners of stamps, under the 1 & 2 Wm. IV., e. 22; the particular conditions and regulations under which such licences are to be granted being contained in the above-mentioned statute, 50 Geo. III., e. 41.
Before a licence is granted to a person desirous of trading aud travelling as a hawker or pedlar, the applicant must produce to the commissioners of stamps a certificate, signed by the officiating clergy man and two householders within the parish in which he resides, attesting that he is of good character and a fit person to be licensed. Upon this certificate being given, the commissioners grant the licence, which is only in force for one year, and the party who receives it is subject to a duty of 41. per annum, if be travels on foot or with horses alone, and an additional duty of 41. per annum if he travels with a " horse, ass, mule, or other beast bearing or drawing bm-then ; " and these duties are to be paid at the time of receiving the licence. All persons who act as hawkers or pedlars without such a licence are liable to a penalty of 50/. Among other regulations, the hawker or pedlar is
required by the act to " cause to be written in large legible Roman capitals, upon the most conspicuous part of every pack, box, bag, trunk, case, cart, or waggon, or other vehicle in which he carries his goods, and of every room and shop in which he trades, aud likewise upon every handbill or advertisement given out by him, the words ' Licensed Hawker,' together with the number, name, or other mark of his licence ; " and in case of his omission so to do, he isliable to a penalty of 10/. ; and every unlicensed person who places these words upon his goods is liable to a penalty to the like amount. A hawker and pedlar travelling without a licence, or travelling and trading contrary to or otherwise than is allowed by the terms of his licence, or refusing to produce his licence when required to do so by inspectors appointed by the com missioners, or by any magistrate or peace-officer, or by any person to whom he shall offer goods for sale, is liable in each case to a penalty of 10/. A person having a licence, and hiring or lending it to another person for the purpose of trading with it, and also the person who so trades with another e licence, aro each liable to a penalty of 40/. A hawker or pedlar dealing in or selling any smuggled goods, or know ingly dealing in or selling any goods fraudulently or dishonestly pro cured, forfeits his licence, and is for ever afterwards incapacitated from obtaining or holding a new licence. By the stat. 48 Geo. III., c. 84, a. 7, if any hawker or pedlar shall offer for sale tea, brandy, rum, Geneva, or other foreign spirits, tobacco, or snuff, he may be arrested by any person to whom the same may be offered, and taken before a magistrate, who may hold him to bail to answer for the offence under the excise laws.
By the stat. 6 Geo. IV., c. 80, any person hawking any spirits may be arrested, and upon conviction before a magistrate, incurs a forfeitut o of the spirits, and may be sentenced to pay a penalty of 100/., and in default to undergo three months imprisonment with hard labour.
By the provisions of the statutes 29 Geo. Il I., c. 26, e. 6, and also of 50 Geo. HI., c. 41, s. 7, no person coming within the description of a hawker or pedlar can lawfully, either by opening a shop and exposing goods to sale by retail in any place in which he is not a householder or resident, other than in a legally established public mark4t during market hours, or by any other means, sell goods either by himself or any other person by outcry or auction, under a penalty of 50/.
It is further provided by the 18th section of the 50 Geo. III., c. 41, that, if any person shall forge or counterfeit any hawker's or pedlar's licence, or travel with, or produce, or show any such forged or counter feited licence, he shall forfeit the sum of 300/.