Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Solicitation

Urgent request, plea, or entreaty; enticing, asking. The criminal offense of urging someone to commit an unlawful act.

The term solicitation is used in a variety of legal contexts. A person who asks someone to commit an illegal act has committed the criminal act of solicitation. An employee who agrees in an employment contract not to solicit business after leaving her employer and then mails a letter to customers asking for business may be sued by the former employer for violating the non-solicitation clause of the contract. The letter constitutes a solicitation. However, if the person had placed a newspaper advertisement, this would not have been a solicitation because a solicitation must be addressed to a particular individual.

Many solicitations in everyday life appear to be legal. For example, a telemarketer who tries to sell a legitimate product by calling potential customers is making a solicitation. It may or may not...