Regulation of Corporate Finance and Management under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935

Abstract

The most dynamic legislation of the New Deal affecting corporations may very well be the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935. Quite apart from its program of economic planning in which the "death sentence" provisions play so prominent a part, the Act provides a basis for realigning the legal principles of corporate practice. Already the SEC has interpreted both the letter and spirit of the Act so as to impose standards which proceed far beyond the principle of disclosure. Though confined in their application to the public utility industry, these standards have wider significance, for ultimately they may be applied to all corporate finance and management should proposed legislation be adopted.