815 ILCS 350/1

The General Assembly has found and declares: That sales to be licensed and regulated pursuant to the provisions of this Act have often been conducted and advertised in such a manner as to mislead and defraud the public and otherwise to result in harm to the public interest; That such fraud and imposition on the public has included, by way of partial enumeration only: the misrepresentation of the condition or necessity which is the occasion of such sale; the misrepresentation of the identity of the person conducting such sale and/or the name and style in which such sale is to be conducted; and the excessive valuation and misrepresentation of the quality and ownership of goods to be sold at such a sale; That in order to prevent such fraud and imposition, the public interest requires the regulation of such sales and of the duration and conduct thereof; and That the public interest therefore requires that no such sale should be conducted without a license or otherwise than in accordance with this Act.