15 U.S.C. § 431: Definitions

Summary

Defines key words used in this chapter. "Agricultural products" means farm and food products (for example crops, dairy, livestock, poultry, bees, forestry products, and goods made from them) that are moved or meant to be moved in interstate or foreign trade. "Board of trade" means any exchange or group that buys, sells, or takes agricultural products for sale, except markets listed under the Grain Futures Act. "Interstate commerce" means trade between any State, Territory, U.S. possession, the District of Columbia, or places outside them, or trade inside a State that goes through places outside. A sale is treated as interstate if it is part of the normal flow of goods sent from one State expecting to end up in another, including sales for shipment or for making products that will be shipped out; using tricks to avoid this rule does not change it. "Person" can mean one or many and includes individuals, groups, partnerships, corporations, and trusts. Acts or failures by an agent or officer, while doing their job, count as acts or failures of the organization they work for.

Title 15, §431

Commerce and Trade, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

When used in this chapter (a) the term “agricultural products”, means agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, and dairy products, food products of livestock, the products of poultry and bee raising, the edible products of forestry, and any and all products raised or produced on farms and processed or manufactured products thereof, transported or intended to be transported in interstate and/or foreign commerce.

(b)The words “board of trade” shall be held to include and mean any exchange or association, whether incorporated or unincorporated, of persons who shall be engaged in the business of buying or selling agricultural products or receiving the same for sale on consignment, except markets designated as contract markets under the Grain Futures Act [7 U.S.C. 1 et seq.].

(c)The words “interstate commerce” shall be construed to mean commerce between any State, Territory, or possession, or the District of Columbia, and any place outside thereof; or between points within the same State, Territory, or possession, or the District of Columbia, but through any place outside thereof, or within any Territory or possession, or the District of Columbia.

(d)For the purposes of this chapter (but not in any wise limiting the foregoing definition of interstate commerce) a transaction in respect to any article shall be considered to be in interstate commerce if such article is part of that current of commerce usual in dealing in agricultural products whereby they are sent from one State with the expectation that they will end their transit, after purchase, in another, including, in addition to cases within the above general description, all cases where purchase or sale is either for shipment to another State or for manufacture within the State and the shipment outside the State of the products resulting from such manufacture. Articles normally in such current of commerce shall not be considered out of such commerce through resort being had to any means or device intended to remove transactions in respect thereto from the provisions of this chapter. For the purpose of this paragraph the word “State” includes Territory, the District of Columbia, possession of the United States, and foreign nation.

(e)The word “person” shall be construed to import the plural or singular, and shall include individuals, associations, partnerships, corporations, and trusts.

(f)The act, omission, or failure of any official, agent, or other person acting for any individual, association, partnership, corporation, or trust, within the scope of his employment or office, shall be deemed the act, omission, or failure of such individual, association, partnership, corporation, or trust, as well as of such official, agent, or other person.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Grain Futures Act, referred to in subsec. (b), was act Sept. 21, 1922, ch. 369, 42 Stat. 998. The Act was renamed the Commodity Exchange Act by act June 15, 1936, ch. 545, § 1, 49 Stat. 1491, and is classified generally to chapter 1 (§ 1 et seq.) of Title 7, Agriculture. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1 of Title 7 and Tables.

§431 Definitions

Summary

Title 15, §431

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Citations & Metadata