Legal Dictionary: Securities Law

DEFINITION

• Securities Law balances efforts to sell innovative new business ideas to the investing public against full and fair risk disclosure.

• A security is an investment in a company that is premised upon the expectation of profits from the managerial or entrepreneurial efforts of others. Common types of securities are stocks, bonds and certificates of deposit.

• The federal Securities Laws are comprised of statutes, which in turn authorize regulations promulgated by the government agency with general oversight responsibility for the securities industry, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• While the SEC, through its oversight of the various stock exchanges, is the main enforcer of the nation's securities laws, each individual state has its own securities regulatory body, typically known as the state securities commissioner. State securities regulators have most of their impact in the area of registration of securities brokers and dealers, and in the registration of securities transactions. These regulations are covered under the state's Blue Sky Laws.

FIND A SECURITIES LAWYER IN YOUR AREA.

More information on Securities

RELATED PRACTICE AREAS

Business & Commercial Law
Banking & Finance Law
Antitrust & Trade Regulation
White-Collar Crime

BUZZWORDS

• 10-K
• 10-Q
• Blue Sky Laws
• Bond
• Certificate of Deposit (CD)
• Insider Trading

For related legal definitions, visit the Securities Law Glossary in the FindLaw Legal Dictionary.