Hawkers, Regulations, and Police in Brussels in the 19th Century

In 1875, the city council of Brussels wrote a report on the hostile public opinion towards itinerant trading, when drafting a set of regulations concerning this type of commerce. The authorities concluded that many other European cities, when confronted with the danger of a supposedly disordered public space, had imposed a repressive social policy towards hawkers who wandered the city streets. This article aims to analyse policies concerning the...