Green River Ordinance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article refers to the prohibition of door-to-door solicitation. For the band from Fort Worth, Texas see Green River Ordinance (band)

The name Green River Ordinance is given to a common American city ordinance prohibiting door-to-door solicitation. Under such an ordinance, it is illegal for any business to sell their items door-to-door without express permission from the household beforehand. Some versions prohibit all organizations, including non-profit charitable, political, and religious groups, from soliciting or canvassing any household that makes it clear, in writing, that it does not want such solicitations (generally with a "No Trespassing" or "No Solicitations" sign posted.)

The ordinance is named for the city of Green River, Wyoming, the first city to enact it.

The ordinance has been challenged before the Supreme Court on several occasions. While the court has upheld these ordinances when they prohibit intrastate commerce (seeing the issue as a state's rights issue), more recent decisions suggest that a total ban on door to door soliciting would be found unconstitutional and unenforceable on the grounds of religious free speech and commercial free speech when the ordinances ban religious or interstate solicitations.

[edit] External links

• About Regulation of Peddlers and Solicitors - Court Decisions

This article relating to law in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.