The
United States Congress enacted the
Securities Act of 1933 (the
1933 Act, the
Securities Act, the Truth in Securities Act, the Federal Securities Act, or the '33 Act, Title I of Pub. L. 73-22, , enacted May 27, 1933,
codified at et seq.), in the aftermath of the
stock market crash of 1929 and during the ensuing
Great Depression. Legislated pursuant to the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, it requires that any offer or sale of
securities using the means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce be registered with the SEC pursuant to the 1933 Act, unless an exemption from registration exists under the law. "Means and instrumentalities of interstate commerce" is extremely broad, and it is virtually impossible to avoid the operation of this statute by attempting to offer or sell a security without using an "instrumentality" of interstate commerce. Any use of a telephone, for example, or the mails, would probably be enough to subject the transaction to the statute.