§ 66-77. License required; contents of applications; inventory required; fees; bond; extension of licenses; records; false statements.
§66‑77. License required; contents of applications; inventory required;fees; bond; extension of licenses; records; false statements.
(a) No person shalladvertise or offer for sale a stock of goods, wares or merchandise under thedescription of closing‑out sale, or a sale of goods, wares or merchandisedamaged by fire, smoke, water or otherwise, or a distress sale unless he shallhave obtained a license to conduct such sale from the clerk of the city or townin which he proposes to conduct such a sale or from the officer designated bythe Board of County Commissioners if the sale is conducted in an unincorporatedarea. The applicant for such a license shall make to such clerk an applicationtherefor, in writing and under oath at least seven days prior to the openingdate of sale, showing all the facts relating to the reasons and character ofsuch sale, including the opening and terminating dates of the proposed sale,the opening and terminating dates of any previous distress sale or closing‑outsale held by the applicant within that county during the preceding 12 months, acomplete inventory of the goods, wares or merchandise actually on hand in theplace whereat such sale is to be conducted, and all details necessary to locateexactly and identify fully the goods, wares or merchandise to be sold.Provided, the seller in a distress sale need not file an inventory.
(b) If such clerk shallbe satisfied from said application that the proposed sale is of the characterwhich the applicant desires to advertise and conduct, the clerk shall issue alicense, upon the payment of a fee of fifty dollars ($50.00) therefor, togetherwith a bond, payable to the city or town or county in the penal sum of fivehundred dollars ($500.00), conditioned upon compliance with this Article, tothe applicant authorizing him to advertise and conduct a sale of the particularkind mentioned in the application. The license fee provided for herein shallbe good for a period of 30 days from its date, and if the applicant shall notcomplete said sale within said 30‑day period then the applicant shallmake application to such clerk for a license for a new permit, which shall begood for an additional period of 30 days, and shall pay therefor the sum offifty dollars ($50.00), and a second extension period of 30 days may besimilarly applied for and granted by the clerk upon payment of an additionalfee of fifty dollars ($50.00) and upon the clerk being satisfied that theapplicant is holding a bona fide sale of the kind contemplated by this Articleand is acting in a bona fide manner; provided, however, that the clerk may notgrant an extension period as provided in this subsection if (i) the applicantconducted a distress sale immediately preceding the current sale for which theextension is applied for and (ii) the period of the extension applied for, whenadded to the period of the preceding sale and the period of the current sale,will exceed 120 days. No additional bond shall be required in the event of oneor more extensions as herein provided for. Any merchant who shall have beenconducting a business in the same location where the sale is to be held for aperiod of not less than one year, prior to the date of holding such sale, orany merchant who shall have been conducting a business in one location for suchperiod but who shall, by reason of the building being untenantable or by reasonof the fact that said merchant shall have no existing lease or ownership of thebuilding and shall be forced to hold such sale at another location, shall beexempted from the payment of the fees and the filing of the bond hereinprovided for.
(c) Every city or townor county to whom application is made shall endorse upon such application thedate of its filing, and shall preserve the same as a record of his office, andshall make an abstract of the facts set forth in such application, and shallindicate whether the license was granted or refused.
(d) Any person making afalse statement in the application provided for in this section shall, uponconviction, be deemed guilty of perjury. (1957, c. 1058, s. 2; 1981,c. 633, ss. 2‑4; 1987, c. 387, s. 1.)