CHAPTER 12
Federal Regulation of Private Offerings of Securities Prior to the JOBS Act
Prior to the twentieth century, offerings of securities in the United States were not regulated by government at any level. The prevailing laissez-faire philosophy of the time dictated that government should interfere with commercial activities only when absolutely necessary to protect the public interest. Investors were held strictly accountable for their own mistakes, negligence, and bad investment choices under the maxim of caveat emptor, or “buyer beware.”
Early 1900s: The States Get the Ball Rolling with Blue-Sky Laws
That changed in the early twentieth century, largely as the result of several panics (today we call them recessions) in which many investors ...
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