Article Title
Break from Tradition: Questioning the Primacy of Self-Regulation in American Securities Law
Abstract
This Comment outlines the circular path of American securities law—one that begins and ends with the primacy of self-regulation. Part I of this paper describes American securities law between 1792 and 1911 (the “Buttonwood Era”). In this era, a group of New York stock brokers utilized private contract law to create securities regulation for their private club, thereby establishing a tradition of self-regulation. Part II describes a short period of history in which individual states attempted to regulate the se-curities market through state statutes, the so-called “Blue Sky Laws.” Part III details the creation of the federal securities law regime during the New Deal Era. Part IV describes the transition from centralized federal regula-tion of the securities industry to the return of the primacy of self-regula-tion. Part V serves as the paper’s conclusion.
Recommended Citation
John I. Sanders,
Break from Tradition: Questioning the Primacy of Self-Regulation in American Securities Law,
7
Mich. Bus. & Entrepreneurial L. Rev.
93
(2017).
Available at:
https://repository.law.umich.edu/mbelr/vol7/iss1/4