15 U.S.C. § 41
Section 41 · Federal Trade Commission established; membership; vacancies; seal
This is § 1 of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 359 court decisions — leading case United States v. Morton Salt Co. (1950)
Most recently applied in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management, Inc. (June 2025)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (27 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 15 U.S.C. § 45 · 15 U.S.C. § 1 · 28 U.S.C. § 1331
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
A commission is created and established, to be known as the Federal Trade Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission), which shall be composed of five Commissioners, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. Not more than three of the Commissioners shall be members of the same political party. The first Commissioners appointed shall continue in office for terms of three, four, five, six, and seven years, respectively, from September 26, 1914, the term of each to be designated by the President, but their successors shall be appointed for terms of seven years, except that any person chosen to fill a vacancy shall be appointed only for the unexpired term of the Commissioner whom he shall succeed: Provided, however, That upon the expiration of his term of office a Commissioner shall continue to serve until his successor shall have been appointed and shall have qualified. The President shall choose a chairman from the Commission's membership. No Commissioner shall engage in any other business, vocation, or employment. Any Commissioner may be removed by the President for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. A vacancy in the Commission shall not impair the right of the remaining Commissioners to exercise all the powers of the Commission.
The Commission shall have an official seal, which shall be judicially noticed.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1938—Act Mar. 21, 1938, inserted proviso clause to third sentence.
Transfer of Functions
Executive and administrative functions of Federal Trade Commission, with certain reservations, transferred to Chairman of such Commission by Reorg. Plan No. 8 of 1950, set out below.
Functions of Federal Trade Commission (1) under Flammable Fabrics Act [section 1191 et seq. of this title] and under this subchapter to extent that such functions relate to administration of Flammable Fabrics Act, and (2) under Act of August 2, 1956, [section 1211 et seq. of this title], transferred to Consumer Product Safety Commission by section 30 of Act Oct. 27, 1972, Pub. L. 92–573 [section 2079 of this title].
By section 3 of act Sept. 26, 1914, Bureau of Corporations abolished and all employees and functions of said Bureau transferred to Federal Trade Commission.