Definition
Solicitation has three distinct legal meanings depending on context.
1. Criminal solicitation (inchoate offense). The act of requesting, encouraging, or inducing another person to commit a crime, with the specific intent that the crime be carried out. Solicitation is complete at the moment of the request — no further act by the person solicited is required, and the target crime need not be attempted or completed. The offense is inchoate: it criminalizes the communication itself as a step toward harm.
2. Solicitation related to prostitution. The act of offering, requesting, or enticing another person to engage in a sexual act in exchange for compensation. This use appears in criminal codes and ordinances as a distinct offense, often separated from the underlying act of prostitution. Both the person offering and the person seeking may be charged.
3. Commercial and civil solicitation. In business and regulatory contexts, solicitation refers to the act of seeking business, clients, donations, or investments — for example, a lawyer soliciting clients, a securities broker soliciting investors, or a charity soliciting donations. This meaning is largely non-criminal but is heavily regulated.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "The action or instance of soliciting; petition; proposal."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "The act of soliciting; earnest request; persistent asking; importunity. Excitement; invitation."
The common meaning carries no inherent criminal weight — a persistent request is simply a persistent request. The legal meaning in criminal law grafts specific intent and inchoate liability onto this ordinary act. A researcher reading historical sources must be alert to whether "solicitation" is being used in its common sense (mere asking) or its technical criminal sense (an offense complete upon the asking).
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Common Confusion
Solicitation is frequently confused with attempt and conspiracy, the other two principal inchoate offenses. The distinctions matter:
- Solicitation involves one person asking another to commit the crime. The solicitor need not take any further step.
- Attempt involves a single actor moving beyond preparation toward completing the crime.
- Conspiracy requires an agreement between two or more persons, and in most jurisdictions an overt act in furtherance of that agreement.
Solicitation and conspiracy can overlap when the person solicited agrees — at that point, a conspiracy may be formed. Some jurisdictions merge solicitation into the conspiracy once agreement is reached. Researchers working across jurisdictions should not assume that what one state calls "solicitation" another will not treat as a lesser conspiracy or a standalone attempt.
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Core Elements
For criminal solicitation:
1. An act of communication — spoken, written, or by conduct — directed at another person.
2. Requesting, encouraging, or inducing that person to commit a specific crime.
3. Specific intent that the crime be carried out by the person solicited.
4. Completion at the moment of the communication, regardless of whether the solicited party agrees, refuses, or ever receives the message.
The fourth element is a persistent source of doctrinal tension: Bouvier notes the contested historical question of whether a solicitation letter that never reached its recipient still constitutes a completed offense. Most modern courts and codes treat non-receipt as going to evidence, not to the existence of the offense.
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Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
- Solicitation to commit a felony: The historically recognized core form; treated as a misdemeanor at common law even when the target felony went uncommitted.
- Solicitation of prostitution: A distinct statutory offense in virtually every U.S. jurisdiction; may be charged against either party.
- Charitable solicitation: Regulated under state charitable solicitation statutes; not criminal absent fraud, but subject to registration, disclosure, and licensing requirements.
- Attorney solicitation: Regulated under professional conduct rules (Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 7.3); in-person and targeted solicitation of prospective clients is restricted.
- Securities solicitation: Governed by federal and state securities law; soliciting investors without proper registration triggers regulatory liability.
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Why It Matters in Research
The multi-context nature of solicitation is the primary research trap. A keyword search across historical legal materials will retrieve results spanning criminal inchoate doctrine, prostitution law, professional conduct, securities regulation, and charitable fundraising — all using the same term but drawing on entirely different bodies of law and distinct policy rationales.
In criminal law research, the key historical question is whether solicitation was recognized as a standalone offense in the jurisdiction and period under study. At common law, the matter was unsettled. Rapalje cites early English authority (2 East 5) for the proposition that soliciting a felony is indictable even without commission of the felony, but this was not universally accepted. Bouvier reflects the American uncertainty: most states treated it as a punishable misdemeanor, but courts split on edge cases like the undelivered letter. Modern criminal codes — including the Model Penal Code at § 5.02 — resolved most of this by codifying solicitation explicitly, but researchers working with pre-code materials should not assume that a jurisdiction followed the majority rule.
For research on prostitution, be alert to the shifting regulatory architecture: older materials may treat solicitation as a component of broader vagrancy or disorderly conduct offenses rather than as a named offense. Post-1970s materials tend to reflect standalone solicitation statutes with their own elements and penalty tiers.
In professional responsibility research, "solicitation" carries its own specialized meaning shaped by First Amendment doctrine. The line between permissible attorney advertising and impermissible in-person solicitation has shifted substantially since the 1970s and must be traced through both the Model Rules and constitutional case law rather than through general criminal law sources.
Charitable solicitation is an entirely separate regulatory regime. Researchers approaching nonprofit law should cross to business_149 rather than starting with criminal sources.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries present a consistent but thin picture. Black's (both editions) defines solicitation in plain terms — asking, enticing, urgent request — and gestures at application through examples like "solicitation of chastity" and "solicitation to larceny." Neither edition offers a formal doctrinal treatment or elements-based analysis, reflecting the relatively underdeveloped state of inchoate offense doctrine at the time of compilation.
Rapalje cuts to the criminal core most cleanly: the indictable offense is complete even when no felony is actually committed. This was the emerging consensus position in English law and was being adopted, with variation, in American courts.
Bouvier provides the most substantive historical treatment, acknowledging the majority rule (punishable as a misdemeanor, target offense need not be committed) while honestly flagging the minority position and the unresolved delivery problem. The citations Bouvier provides — including Massachusetts and New Jersey reports — reflect active American litigation rather than settled doctrine.
What all four sources miss: they address only the criminal-inchoate meaning. The commercial, professional, and regulatory meanings of solicitation developed substantially in the twentieth century and are entirely absent from these dictionaries. Researchers relying solely on historical legal dictionaries will find no guidance on attorney advertising rules, securities solicitation, or charitable fundraising law.
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Jurisdictional Note
American jurisdictions vary on whether solicitation is a standalone statutory offense, what grade of crime it constitutes relative to the target offense, and whether merger occurs when the solicited party agrees and a conspiracy is formed. The Model Penal Code § 5.02 treats solicitation as one grade below the target offense. State codes diverge significantly; some limit criminal solicitation to capital offenses or specific felonies. For prostitution-related solicitation, penalty structures and who may be charged vary widely by state and municipality.
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