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Finding the Securities Acts

Tip: A common snag in statutory research is the use of the section numbers of the original Public Laws to identify provisions instead of the title and section number where they are codified. Tables in the USCA and USCS, as well as in looseleaf services, will provide conversions from one designation to another.

Note: Be sure to check the currency, coverage, and status (official or unofficial) of all sources.

Official sources of Federal Securities Law

The U. S. Statutes at Large and the U. S. Code are the official sources of the securities acts and will be available in many libraries of all kinds. Please see the Summer Guide to Researching Federal and State Statutes for information on using these official sources.

Comprehensive (Unofficial) Sources

a) Looseleaf Services

b) Electronic Sources

The electronic version of CCH's Federal Securities Law Reporter. (Non-commercial use only; Harvard ID and pin required.) After clicking on the link above, click on "CCH Business & Finance Research Network," then on "Enter" and then click on the "Securities" tab.

The Laws That Govern the Securities Industry section of the SEC website provides information about the laws and links to the full text.

Lexis

Westlaw

In addition, there are comprehensive free web sources, including:

Your law firm’s librarian will know the online sources for researching securities law that are available at your firm as well as the firm’s guidelines for using them.