Michigan Veteran License to Sell Goods

1921 PA 359 gives a veteran a route around local peddler and transient merchant licensing. A veteran may sell their own goods within this state if the proceeds are to be used for their direct personal benefit or gain, on obtaining a license under the act, which is valid for one year. The license is free and the clerk has no discretion. On the presentation of evidence that the person is a veteran, the clerk of any county in which the veteran resides shall issue without cost a veteran's license certifying entitlement to the benefits of the act. The clerk must provide the forms and books and keep a record of licenses issued. It is personal. A license issued under the act is personal to the licensee and an assignment or transfer of it is void, so it cannot be lent to a business partner or used by an employee. Who counts as a veteran here. A fifth Michigan definition: a veteran under 35.61 who served at least 180 days of active service in the armed forces or has a service-connected disability as a result of that service, who was honorably discharged, and who is a resident of this state. It combines the 180-day test from the private employer preference act with the honorable discharge test from the public preference act and adds residency, and it is the strictest of the set. The honesty rules, which are the substance of the modern act. While selling, the licensee must conspicuously display a sign at the place of sale in not less than 18-point boldface type showing the licensee's name, the license number, and a statement substantially in the form "The profit from the sale of this product is for my personal benefit". At the time of sale a written statement in not less than 12-point boldface type saying the same thing must be printed on or attached to the goods. And no person may knowingly make a false representation that the proceeds benefit a veterans' organisation, defined as a federally chartered veterans' organisation or an organisation of veterans organised for a bona fide fraternal, benevolent, educational, philanthropic, humane, patriotic or charitable purpose. A violation of any of those three is a state civil infraction with a civil fine of up to $1,000. What the act does not displace. Section 35.443 provides that it does not contravene MCL 445.371 to 445.378, the home solicitation sales act, so the buyer's cancellation rights under that act survive. The practical value. A veteran selling at a roadside, a market or door to door in Michigan has a statewide free license from their own county clerk instead of a separate paid license from each municipality, and the price of it is telling every customer in boldface that the money is theirs.