Applications for license to conduct such business must be made in writing to the Mayor of the District of Columbia, and shall contain the full names and addresses of applicants, if natural persons, and in the case of firms and voluntary associations, the full names and addresses of all the members thereof, and in the case of joint-stock companies, incorporated societies, and corporations, the full names and addresses of the officers and directors thereof and under what law or laws organized or incorporated, and the place where such business is to be conducted, and such other information as the said Mayor may require. Every license granted shall date from the 1st of the month in which it is issued and expire on the 31st day of the following October, and such license shall be kept conspicuously displayed in the place of business of the licensee. Every application shall be filed not less than 30 days prior to the granting of such license, and notice of the filing of such application shall be posted in the office of the Director of the Department of Licenses, Investigation and Inspections of the said District and be published twice a week for 3 successive weeks in a daily newspaper published in the District of Columbia. Protest may be made by any person to the issuing of such license, and when such protests are filed with the said Mayor the latter shall give public notice of and hold a public hearing upon such protests before issuing such license. The said Mayor shall have the power to reject any application for license after a hearing upon such protest or for failure on the part of the applicant to observe this chapter, or when such applicant shall have violated its provisions.

(Feb. 4, 1913, 37 Stat. 657, ch. 26, § 2; Mar. 3, 1917, 39 Stat. 1006, ch. 160.)

1981 Ed., § 26-702.

1973 Ed., § 26-602.

All functions of the Superintendent of Licenses were transferred to the Director of the Department of Economic Development by Commissioner’s Order No. 69-96, dated March 7, 1969. The Department of Economic Development was replaced by the Department of Licenses, Investigation and Inspection by Mayor’s Order No. 78-42, dated February 17, 1978.

This section originated at a time when local government powers were delegated to a Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia (see Acts Relating to the Establishment of the District of Columbia and its Various Forms of Government Organization in Volume 1). Section 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967 (see Reorganization Plans in Volume 1) transferred all of the functions of the Board of Commissioners under this section to a single Commissioner. The District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act. 87 Stat. 818, § 711 ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.11), abolished the District of Columbia Council and the Office of Commissioner of the District of Columbia. These branches of government were replaced by the Council of the District of Columbia and the Office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, respectively. Accordingly, and also pursuant to § 714(a) of such Act ( D.C. Code, § 1-207.14(a)), appropriate changes in terminology were made in this section.