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Georgetown Law Library

Securities Law (U.S. and International) Research Guide

This guide is a starting point for research in securities law, covering U.S. federal, U.S. state, international, and foreign securities law.

State Securities Law

This Research Guide covers only the most general sources for researching state securities law. 

Blue Sky Laws

In the United States, each individual state has its own securities laws and rules. These state statutes are commonly known as "Blue Sky" Laws. Although the specific provisions of these laws vary among states, they all require the registration of securities offerings, and registration of brokers and brokerage firms. Each state has a regulatory agency which administers the law, typically known as the State Securities Commissioner.

Uniform Securities Act

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws has promulgated a Uniform Securities Act with the goal of encouraging states to enact similar state securities laws. Note that the Uniform Securities Act itself is not binding on anyone; it can only be made binding by the adoption of each state's legislature. The most recent version of the Uniform Securities Act was published in 2002 and amended in 2005. Sources:

Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia have enacted some version of the Uniform Securities Act. For a list of adopting states with citations and links to their statutory codes, see the Legal Information Institute's list.

Secondary Sources