This was a presentation made to the President and Chair of the TB Workers' Conference in British India, 1939. The presenter traced the history of the organized control of TB in many countries with reference to State legislation and, described the variations in laws passed and their impact on different aspects of the anti-TB efforts. The latter part of the presentation was focussed on legislation and TB in India. Defects in certain existing provincial laws were explained as also the negative impact of some of them on the patient and his/her family. It was considered premature to consider any comprehensive and useful TB legislation in India at the time before correcting existing provincial laws and recommendations were made to enforce laws concerning certain factors which promoted the spread of TB.