Securities Act of 1933

The Securities Act of 1933 is a United States federal law enacted by the 73rd Congress and signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 27, 1933, in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression. It requires securities offered for sale across state lines to be registered with what became the Securities and Exchange Commission, and it obliges issuers to provide full and fair disclosure of the character of the securities being sold, including audited financial statements and other business information in a public registration statement. Rather than having regulators judge the merits of an investment, the act relies on mandatory disclosure so investors can make their own judgment, and it makes it unlawful to omit a material fact or to make a materially false statement in connection with a securities offering. The act was the first of the major federal securities laws passed in response to the crash and helped lay the groundwork for the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.