[3] In 1894, the New York Legislature granted physically disabled Civil War veterans exemptions from municipal laws limiting "hawking or peddling".
[5] Numerous court decisions upheld the 1894 statute over municipal regulations of all sorts, including those that attempted to limit the products that vendors could sell to printed materials and food.
[7] N.Y. General Business Law § 35 provides: This article shall not affect the application of any ordinance, by-law or regulation of a municipal corporation relating to hawkers and peddlers within the limits of such corporations, but the provisions of this article are to be complied with in addition to the requirements of any such ordinance, by-law or regulations; provided, however, that no such by-law, ordinance or regulation shall prevent or in any manner interfere with the hawking or peddling, without the use of any but a hand driven vehicle, in any street, avenue, alley, lane or park of a municipal corporation, by any honorably discharged member of the armed forces of the United States who is physically disabled as a result of injuries received while in the service of said armed forces and the holder of a license granted pursuant to section thirty-two.
[12] For example, some areas would otherwise be off limits to street vendors entirely because they would either be ticketed for being too far from the curb or obstructing a bus or taxi stop.
[1] Some vendors have alleged that their competitors merely hire veterans to sit near their carts, a practice lawyers for the city say would not qualify under the law.