First Page
711
Abstract
When the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1933 were enacted, the international capital market was in its infancy, and the legion difficulties of regulating transnational securities transactions had not evidenced themselves. The adaptation of those laws to the international economy has been largely the work of courts. The Securities and Exchange Commission, whose single venture into the field has not proved fully successful, has gladly acquiesced in the case by case approach to extraterritorial securities jurisdiction. On the other hand, Congress has for the most part remained silent. Since extraterritorial application of the securities laws was given little consideration by Congress when the laws were originally passed, the relevant legislative history is sparse, and United States courts have groped for jurisdictional limits with little congressional guidance. The resulting interpretations have been so expansive as to prompt one commentator to observe that [Tihe attitude of the United States has been one of pride in the fact that, as in the days of the British Empire, the sun never sets on a transaction in securities over which the asserted beneficial protection of our securities legislation does not extend. ' The irony in the broad application of American securities laws lies in the fact that our first securities legislation was patterned on similar laws in western European nations.'
Recommended Citation
George M. Taylor III.,
Extraterritorial Application of the Federal Securities Code: An Examination of the Role of International Law in American Courts,
11 Vanderbilt Law Review
711
(1978)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vjtl/vol11/iss4/9