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expressly states that it repeals a portion of the former statute.
The express repeal of subsections (c), (d), and (e) of section
2040 by the 1981 amendment was deemed persuasive evidence that
Congress did not also intend to repeal subsection (b)(1).
Next, the Court of Appeals concluded that there had been no
implied repeal of the effective date of section 2040(b)(1). It
reasoned that, lacking any evidence showing an affirmative
intention to repeal, an implied repeal can only be found where
two acts are in irreconcilable conflict or where a subsequent act
covers the whole subject of an earlier act. In the court's view,
the two acts here peacefully coexist, as section 2040(b)(1)
applies to a "qualified joint interest" created after 1976, while
section 2040(b)(2) merely redefines a "qualified joint interest"
for estates of decedents dying after 1981.
Furthermore, the court reasoned that because the two
statutes here are not mutually exclusive, it could not be
concluded that the later statute fills the entire area of law,
thereby rendering the prior statute ineffective. The court
dismissed as irrelevant the Government's extensive discussion of
legislative history, finding Congress' failure to change section
2040(b)(1)'s effective date dispositive of the case. The Court
of Appeals' analysis rejecting both express and implied repeal
has since been followed by every other court that has examined
this issue. See Patten v. United States, 116 F.3d 1029 (4th Cir.
1997); Baszto v. United States, 80 AFTR 2d 97-7740 (M.D. Fla.
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