- 15 - section 951(a) and (b) reveals that Congress was acutely aware of the various ways that a taxpayer could be considered to be an owner of an asset. By incorporating the constructive ownership rules into section 951(b) (by reference to section 958(b), which, in turn, references section 318(a)), and excluding the constructive ownership rules from section 951(a) (by choosing not to include a comparable reference), Congress prescribed a specific meaning for the term “owns” in section 951(a). See also S. Rept. 1881, 87th Cong., 2d Sess. (1962), 1962-3 C.B. 703, 943- 944 (legislative history helps to make clear how direct and indirect ownership, on the one hand, are distinguished from constructive ownership, on the other hand, for purposes of the gross income inclusion required by subpart F). In a case such as this, where “a statute limits a thing to be done in a particular mode, it [the statute] includes the negative of any other mode.” Botany Worsted Mills v. United States, 278 U.S. 282, 289 (1929). This principle of statutory construction, which reflects an ancient maxim “expressio unius est exclusio alterius” (the expression of one thing is to the exclusion of the other), is applicable here. See Natl. R.R. Passenger Corp. v. Natl. Association of R.R. Passengers, 414 U.S. 453, 458 (1974); see also Natl. Truck Equip. Association v. Natl. Highway Traffic Safety Admin., 972 F.2d 669, 674 (6th Cir. 1992) (“In interpreting silence, we keep in mind the statutory canonPage: Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011