Robert M. and Pamela Price - Page 6




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             the statute and the treaty can be harmoniously applied                   
             or whether the provisions of the treaty override the                     
             provisions of the statute, as petitioners contend.                       
                 In interpreting a treaty and a statute that pertain                  
            to the same subject matter, the general rule is that the                  
            provisions of both should be construed to be in harmony.                  
            Whitney v. Robertson, 124 U.S. 190, 194 (1888); see also                  
            The Cherokee Tobacco, 78 U.S. 616 (1870); Samann v.                       
            Commissioner, 313 F.2d 461, 463 (4th Cir. 1963), affg. 36                 
            T.C. 1011 (1961); Am. Trust Co. v. Smyth, 247 F.2d 149,                   
            152-153 (9th Cir. 1957).  However, if the provisions of one               
            conflict with those of the other, then the one adopted last               
            in time generally prevails.  See Chae Chan Ping v. United                 
            States, 130 U.S. 581, 600 (1889); Whitney v. Robertson,                   
            supra at 194; Pekar v. Commissioner, 113 T.C. 158 (1999);                 
            Lindsey v. Commissioner, 98 T.C. 672 (1992), affd. without                
            published opinion 15 F.3d 1160 (D.C. Cir. 1994).  As the                  
            Supreme Court explained in Whitney v. Robertson, supra                    
            at 194:                                                                   

                 By the Constitution a treaty is placed on the                        
                 same footing, and made of like obligation, with                      
                 an act of legislation.  Both are declared by that                    
                 instrument to be the supreme law of the land, and                    
                 no superior efficacy is given to either over the                     
                 other.  When the two relate to the same subject,                     
                 the courts will always endeavor to construe them                     
                 so as to give effect to both, if that can be done                    
                 without violating the language of either; but if                     





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