Securities Law Commons^™

The Private Action Against A Securities Fraud Aider And Abettor: Silent And Inactive Conduct, Clyde A. Billings, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note will examine the origins of the aiding and abetting cause of action and the development of a theory of liability based solely upon passive conduct. After an examination of the elements of the cause of action and defenses, a proposed definition of "aiding and abetting" will be offered. The effect of the recent Supreme Court decision Ernst & Ernst v. Hochfelder upon aiding and abetting liability, the scienter requirement, and the duties owed by potential aiders and abettors will be discussed. Treatment of aiding and abetting by the Federal Securities Code 19 also is mentioned.

Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board: A New Concept Of Self-Regulation, Roswell C. Dikeman

Vanderbilt Law Review

The municipal securities industry, an important segment of the national capital markets, directly affects both the quality of life and the pace of community development throughout the nation. Municipal securities, broadly defined to include all debt securities issued or guaranteed by the states and their political subdivisions,' are the vehicle by which states, their agencies, and local governments finance both long- and short-term debt requirements. In calendar 1975, for example, the municipal securities industry raised approximately 29.2 billion dollars in long-term issues. In 1973, 8,147 long- and short-term issues raised almost 48 billion dollars, or approximately one-quarter of all direct …

Disclosure By Issuers Of Municipal Securities: An Analysis Of Recent Proposals And A Suggested Approach, Robert D. Tuke

Vanderbilt Law Review

The following considerations impacting on the disclosure issue have been developed in this Note: the uniqueness of the municipal securities industry, owing to the diverse natures of the securities, the wide variety of issuers, and the particular means of marketing the securities; the special circumstances created for underwriters by the competitive bidding process; the varied roles of other participants in the distribution process--fiscal agents, bond counsel, governmental accountants; the existing state machinery for regulation and control; the practical limitations on the SEC--both in staff capacity and expertise; the need for uniformity in disclosure to prevent weakened marketability of municipal securities …

Recent Cases, Richard T. Hurt, Jay D. Christiansen, William J. Rees, William D. Gutermuth

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Action Under Color of State Law--Legislative Authorization of Private Action Resembling Public Function Constitutes Action Under Color of State Law

The instant case creates a two to two split in the circuits on the question whether the seizure of a tenant's possessions under a land-lord lien statute is action under color of state law. The decisions in Davis and Anastasia provide the potential for abuse that Fuentes was designed to prevent-the indiscriminate entry into the debtor's home and seizure of his belongings without prior notice and hearing.Hall and the instant opinion, however, provide a more equitable result. While the …

Special Project, Kenneth Harmon, Barbara Moss, W. Patrick Mulloy, Ii, Robert H. Brownlee, Walter T. Eccard, Michael D. Kelly, Timothy C. Maguire, Richard M. Pitt, Stephen K. Rush, Robert D. Tuke, Richard C. Stark Special Project Editor

Vanderbilt Law Review

The One Hundred and First Justice: An Analysis of the Opinions of Justice John Paul Stevens, Sitting as Judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

This article will examine the opinions written by Mr. Justice Stevens while he served on the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The areas examined are constitutional, antitrust, labor, securities, federal tax, administrative, and federal jurisdictional law. This article also will seek to reach some conclusions on Stevens' position in the several areas while he served on the Seventh Circuit and to suggest the factors he may consider important in deciding cases in …

Recent Cases, Susan E. Dominick, Robert D. Butters, Walter T. Eccard

Vanderbilt Law Review

The first amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion, although couched in absolute terms, has never been considered an absolute right. The first significant free exercise case, Reynolds v.United States,' upheld the conviction of a Mormon polygamist who claimed a religious exemption from the bigamy laws on the basis of the first amendment. The Court held that while Congress was left powerless to legislate in matters of mere opinion, it was nonetheless" left free to reach actions which were in violation of social duties or subversive of good order."'

Susan E. Dominick

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The instant decision appears to be the …

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act: Preemption As Public Policy, Philip F. Johnson

Vanderbilt Law Review

On October 23, 1974, President Ford signed into law P.L. 93-463, bearing the breathless title "Commodity Futures Trading Com-mission Act of 1974"' [hereinafter the CFTC Act]. The CFTC Act followed a series of hearings, beginning in the summer of 1973, held first by a subcommittee of the House Committee on Small Business and followed rapidly by the more traditional oversight committees of the Congress-the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee.' The result was a major over-haul of the Commodity Exchange Act, which had governed the commodity futures markets since 1922. More significantly, however,the Act has become …

Registration And Exemption From Registration Of Employee Compensation Plans Under The Federal Securities Laws, Dean L. Overman

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article is a basic summary of the rather complex federal securities laws concerning the registration of employee compensation plans. It centers around certain provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940. The article initially discusses the necessity of registering the following four types of employee compensation plans: (1) pension, profit-sharing, stock bonus and similar plans; (2) employee stock purchase plans; (3) stock option plans; and (4) phantom stock plans. It then considers certain exemptions for these plans and the means available to employees to effect a …

Municipal Bonds And The Federal Securities Laws: The Results Of Forty Years Of Indirect Regulation, Bruce N. Hawthorne

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent abuses occurring in the municipal bond markets have threatened investor confidence and caused Congress to reevaluate its original decision to exempt these securities from the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This Note will analyze in some depth the securities regulation aspects of the municipal securities markets. First, because an understanding of the unique nature of municipal securities and their markets is essential, a description will be made of the characteristics of municipal bonds and municipal bond purchasers, the participants in the municipal securities industry, and the new issue and trading markets for municipal …

Recent Cases, Gregg N. Gimsley

Vanderbilt Law Review

The instant decision is of major importance because it clearly defines a more liberal standard for aiding and abetting under section 10(b), reads a requirement of due care by accountants into section 17(a), and serves as an additional warning to the accounting profession of its expanding responsibilities in the field of securities regulation. By establishing negligence, duty to disclose, and causal connection, rather than actual knowledge, substantial assistance,and reliance, as the major elements of aiding and abetting a violation of Rule 10b-5, the Seventh Circuit has given this cause of action the broadest interpretation to date. Nothing precluded this interpretation …

Recent Decisions, Anne Markey, James F. Maddox, Thomas C. Eklund, Thomas F. Taylor, Ralph Vinciguerra, Clark Mervis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Admiralty--Damages in a Maritime Collision or Stranding Caused by Mutual Fault Must be Apportioned According to the Comparative Negligence of the Parties

Anne Markey

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Admiralty--Wrongful Death--General Maritime Law Provides Remedy for Pain and Suffering of Decedent Incurred in Wrongful Death on High Seas but not for Funeral Expenses

James F. Maddox

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Arbitration--Securities Regulation--In International Sale of Securities, Arbitration Agreement is Binding not Withstanding Non-Waiverability of Judicial Remedy of Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Thomas C. Eklund

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IMMIGRATION--ALIEN COMMUTERS, BOTH DAILY AND SEASONAL, WHO HAVE ONCE OBTAINED THE STATUS OF IMMIGRANTS ARE PROPERLY CLASSIFIED AS SPECIAL IMMIGRANTS LAWFULLY …

Truth In Financial Statements: An Introduction, Douglas W. Hawes

Vanderbilt Law Review

When used in relation to a periodical, the word "symposium"refers to "a collection of opinions on a subject." The word derives from the Greek "sympinein," to drink together, and originally was applied to a drinking party in which conversation and intellectual entertainment played a vital part. To our "party" we have invited a distinguished group of authors representing in some cases widely differing points of view. They have contributed articles dealing with various aspects of these problems of financial reporting and auditing. We leave to you, the reader, and to those engaged in the continuing debate the final judgment on …

Sec Enforcement And Professional Accountants: Philosophy, Objectives And Approach, John C. Burton

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Commission's enforcement program in regard to professional accountants is one of the means by which it seeks to improve the quality and reliability of financial reporting in the United States. Effective utilization of this program can achieve an increasing quality of professional performance and the implementation on an industry-wide basis of improved quality control procedures, thereby assuring the vitality of auditing standards and public confidence in the profession as a whole. These objectives are being achieved through a selective, albeit vigorous, application of enforcement powers and the continued use of flexible and innovative approaches by the SEC. While the …

The Fairness Myth, Victor M. Earle, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

Any type of fairness doctrine for liability, no matter how superficially if not seductively appealing, would effectively destroy the guarantee of professionalism that the securities law and the ac-counting profession have for so long sought to instill in financial reporting. Without the assurance that accountants are consistently applying those principles that- find general acceptance within the accounting profession, the accountant's opinion will mean nothing to a shareholder, investor, or creditor, unless by some magic he can personally observe the particular "fairness" bias of the individual accountant who performed the audit.51 Instead of enhancing the stature of the accountant's opinion and …

Current Problems Of Accountants'responsibilities To Third Parties, T. J. Fiflis

Vanderbilt Law Review

When the auditor begins the audit program, he will record in "working papers" his work and findings. Each page will be dated and initialed by all persons who dealt with it. The papers should be indexed and bound and retained for some years. They should also be comprehensible as they are intended for use by others as well as for later use.

A trial balance is usually the first working paper. Other standard working papers are data from the corporate charter, by-laws,and minutes and analyses of accounts, prescribed by the audit program. One of the last working papers will be …

We Often Paint Fakes, Abraham J. Brilof

Vanderbilt Law Review

To begin, the profession has disseminated the message far and wide that its members are the high priests responsible for the interpretation and application of a very special body of knowledge known as "generally accepted accounting principles" usually referred to as "GAAP." On analysis one quickly discerns that no such defined body of principles exists. Some commentators maintain, in fact,that not a single accounting precept is deserving of the designation"principle" and these exegetics urge that the critical phrase be changed to read "generally accepted accounting standards," hence" GAAS." Others, reflecting on the evils perpetrated in the name of GAAP and/or …

The Establishment Of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles And Generally Accepted Auditing Standards, James F. Strother

Vanderbilt Law Review

This article will discuss accounting principles and auditing standards and the respective roles played in their development and regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the organized accounting profession and other public and private agencies. Accounting principles and auditing standards comprise two fundamentally different and distinct bodies of convention and practice. Generally accepted accounting principles and generally accepted auditing standards are those principles and standards which for a number of reasons have come to be accepted and applied by issuers, accountants, and auditors. Combined with the procedures and techniques attending their observation and application, generally accepted accounting principles and auditing …

Accounting Standards In The United States And The United Kingdom: Their Nature, Causes And Consequences, George J. Benston

Vanderbilt Law Review

The purpose of this article is to account for the existence of differing accounting standards in the United States and the United Kingdom despite a common language, common practice and a fundamentally common political and economic base in the two countries. What factors explain the fact that, while accounting standards in the United States are codified and explicit, they remain on the whole uncodified and implicit in Great Britain? From which system does the investor more likely benefit? The first section of this paper begins with descriptions of auditing and reporting standards in each country. The factors which influence the …

Recent Cases, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Antitrust Law--Robinson-Patman Act--To Satisfy the "In Commerce" Requirement of Section 2(a) at Least One of the Allegedly Discriminatory Sales in a Secondary-Line Case Must Cross a State Line

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Constitutional Law--Equal Protection--Exclusion of Pregnancy-Related Disabilities from State Salary Compensation Insurance Program Denies Equal Protection to Pregnant Employees

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Criminal Procedure--Grand Juries--Exclusionary Rule in Search and Seizure Cases Does Not Apply to Grand Jury Proceedings

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Securities Regulation-Rule 10b-5--Plaintiffs Who Are Neither Purchasers nor Sellers of Securities May Recover Under Rule 10b-5 if Injured in Their Capacity as Investors as a Direct Consequence of Fraud in Connection with a Securities Transaction …

Editor's Foreword, Charles G. Burr

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law is a new undertaking at Vanderbilt Law School. The Journal is an outgrowth of the predecessor publication, The Vanderbilt International, which was established in 1967 as a bulletin of the Vanderbilt International Law Society. A number of factors, including increased student enrollment at the Law School and a growing awareness of global activities and problems, have facilitated the Journal's evolution into its present, expanded format. It is indeed appropriate that the lead article of the new publication should be authored by Judge Philip C. Jessup, who has long been the foremost advocate in the …

Securities Regulation In The United Kingdom: A Comparison With United States Practice, Robert L. Knauss

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The most important securities market outside the United States is that of the United Kingdom. In both countries, the securities markets play a similar role and provide a viable method for the formation of capital. There are, however, a number of fundamental as well as practical differences in the methods by which the two countries have chosen to regulate their securities markets. This article will examine the current method and extent of securities regulation in the United Kingdom. In order to highlight certain aspects of the regulatory pattern and to make the system more comprehensible to American attorneys, this inquiry …

Tokyo As An International Capital Market--Its Economic And Legal Aspects, Mitsuru Misawa

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The internationalization of the Japanese capital market began in 1955, but for a considerable length of time the market served only as a source of foreign capital needed to cover the deficits in the nation's balance of payments. It was not until after 1970, when the Japanese balance of payments showed a steady surplus, that the Japanese market could accommodate the issue and acquisition of foreign securities on a full-fledged scale, and that Tokyo could become a truly international capital market. This trend, however, proved to be short-lived, for the steep rise in the cost of oil imports has recently …

Stock Options And The Tax Reform Act Of 1969: The Question Of Continued Utility, John W. Bonds, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note attempts its own exploration of the compensatory utility of stock options, beginning with brief sketches of the early tax law relating to options; the developing legislative, regulatory,and judicial refinements; and, the state of the law immediately prior to the Tax Reform Act. The basic operating provisions of the new Act and the proposed regulations are then examined as they relate to both statutory and nonstatutory stock options. After out-lining the goals that employers and employees seek by using stock options, the Note's conclusion attempts to analyze the degree to which those goals may still be attained in light …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Remedies--Fair Labor Standards Act--Private Damage Suit Unavailable to Redress Violations of Child Labor Provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act

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Securities Regulation--Commercial Paper-Promissory Notes with Maturity Not Exceeding Nine Months but Offered to Public as Investment Are "Securities" Within Section 3(a)(10) of the 1934 Act

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Securities Regulation-Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5-- A Reorganization in the Form of a Tripartite Merger in Which There Is No Change in the Total Assets Represented by a Share of Stock Does Not Involve a"Purchase or Sale" Within the Meaning of Section 10(b)of The Securities Exchange …

Securities Regulation In Japan, Mitsuru Misawa

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Japanese securities exchanges, which were closed at the beginning of the Allied Force occupation in 1945, were permitted to reopen in 1949. During the following two decades, the Japanese economy displayed vigorous growth. An expansion of the operations of the securities markets accompanied the expansion of the economy, but the expansion did not progress evenly. The development of the securities markets in the post-War period can be divided into a number of stages: (1) the period of confusion and frustration (August 1945 to August 1949); (2) the period of reorganization (May 1949 to January 1954); (3) the period of high …

Securities Regulation In Switzerland, Roger Dagon

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Swiss system of securities regulation, to the extent that it exists at all, is primarily a system of self-regulation. The basic company law, the Code des obligations of 1911, as amended, which enumerates the minimum disclosure requirements for public offerings of foreign or domestic debt securities and for public offerings of new shares of domestic corporations, represents the only formal regulation of corporate issues. The Code exempts secondary offerings of outstanding shares as well as initial issues of foreign shares. Secondary offerings of outstanding shares and issues of new foreign shares, however, must comply with the prospectus requirements established …

Characterization Of Shareholder-Creditor Bad Debt: United States V. Generes Sounds The Knell For Deductions From Ordinary Income, Bland W. Cannon, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The primary focus of this Note is on the development of the judicial doctrines interpreting the provisions of section 166 as applied to share-holder losses on loans to related corporations. Whether, in any given case, advances by shareholders will be considered loans or capital investments is beyond the scope of this work. For purposes of this study, the existence of a valid debtor-creditor or debtor-guarantor relationship between the corporation and its shareholder will be assumed. A brief description of the statutory scheme of the bad debt and loss provisions will be followed by a discussion of the origins and development …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Constitutional Law--Due Process--Replevin Statutes Allowing Seizure of Property Without Notice and Opportunity for Hearing Violate Due Process Clause of Fourteenth Amendment

Constitutional Law--Right to Counsel--Absent Waiver,No Defendant May Be Imprisoned Unless Represented By Counsel At Trial

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure-Class Actions-Class Action Alleging Similar Injury by Separate Defendants Who Acted Similarly but Independently Allowed Under Rule 23(b)(3)

Securities Regulation--Securities Act of 1933-Access Of All Offerees To Additional Desired Information Required For Section 4(2) Private Offering Exemption

Torts-Joint Tort-feasors--Apportionment of Damages Among Negligent Joint Tort-feasors Based upon Relative Responsibility of Parties

Rule 144: Sec Regulation Of Dispositions Of Securities By Controlling Persons And Private Places, Paul L. Sloan, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

In recent years, dissatisfaction with the law that governs the disposition of securities by controlling persons' and private places under the Securities Act of 1933 has been voiced in numerous commentaries.Although criticism has been directed at varying facets of the problem,the displeasure of critics has resulted from two fundamental objections: first, the unnecessary ambiguity that heretofore has enveloped public resale of privately placed securities and, to a lesser degree, resale of securities by controlling persons; and secondly, the failure of the present law adequately to effect the disclosure policy of the Securities Act of 1933 and of the Securities Exchange …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

RECENT CASES

Antitrust--Sham Exception--Allegations of Purposeful and Concerted Use of Adjudicatory Processes to Harass and Deter Parties From Having Free Access to These Processes Constitute a Cause of Action Under Antitrust Laws

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Criminal Procedure--Confessions--Determination of Confession's Voluntariness by Preponderance of the Evidence Is Not Violative of Fifth Amendment Prohibition Against Self-Incrimination

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Landlord and Tenant--Forcible Entry and Detainer Statute--Provisions for Immediate Trial and Limitation of Triable Issues Not Violative of Due Process or Equal-Protection Clauses

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Securities Regulation-Section 16(b) of Securities Exchange Act of 1934--Insider May Sell Enough Stock To Bring His Holdings Below Ten Percent and Within Six …