Securities Act of 1933

Securities Act of 1933

Long title	An act to provide full and fair disclosure of the character of securities sold in interstate and foreign commerce and through the mails, and to prevent frauds in the sale thereof, and for other purposes.
Nicknames	Securities Act 1933 Act '33 Act
Enacted by	the 73rd United States Congress
Effective	May 27, 1933
Citations
Public law	Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 73–22
Statutes at Large	48 Stat. 74
Codification
U.S.C. sections created	15 U.S.C. § 77a et seq.
Legislative history
Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 27, 1933
United States Supreme Court cases
SEC v. W. J. Howey Co., 328 U.S. 293 (1946) SEC v. Ralston Purina Co., 346 U.S. 119 (1953) Rodriguez de Quijas v. Shearson/American Express, 490 U.S. 477 (1989) Liu v. SEC, No. 18-1501, 591 U.S. ___ (2020) Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani, No. 22-200, 598 U.S. ___ (2023)

The Securities Act of 1933, also known as the 1933 Act, the Securities Act, the Truth in Securities Act, the Federal Securities Act, and the '33 Act, was enacted by the United States Congress on May 27, 1933, during the Great Depression and after the stock market crash of 1929. It is an integral part of United States securities regulation. It is legislated pursuant to the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

It requires every offer or sale of securities that uses the means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce to be registered with the SEC pursuant to the 1933 Act, unless an exemption from registration exists under the law. The term "means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce" is extremely broad and it is virtually impossible to avoid the operation of the statute by attempting to offer or sell a security without using an "instrumentality" of interstate commerce. Any use of a telephone, for example, or the mails would probably be enough to subject the transaction to the statute.