Cite as: 511 U. S. 164 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
language of § 12(1)." Id., at 641. Ruling that a seller is one who solicits securities sales for financial gain, we rejected the broader contention, "grounded in tort doctrine," that persons who participate in the sale can also be deemed sellers. Id., at 649. We found "no support in the statutory language or legislative history for expansion of § 12(1)," id., at 650, and stated that "[t]he ascertainment of congressional intent with respect to the scope of liability created by a particular section of the Securities Act must rest primarily on the language of that section." Id., at 653.
Last Term, the Court faced a similar issue, albeit outside the securities context, in a case raising the question whether knowing participation in a breach of fiduciary duty is actionable under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Mertens v. Hewitt Associates, 508 U. S. 248 (1993). The petitioner in Mertens said that the knowing participation cause of action had been available in the common law of trusts and should be available under ERISA. We rejected that argument and noted that no provision in ERISA "explicitly require[d] [nonfiduciaries] to avoid participation (knowing or unknowing) in a fiduciary's breach of fiduciary duty." Id., at 254. While plaintiffs had a remedy against nonfiduciaries at common law, that was because "nonfiduciaries had a duty to the beneficiaries not to assist in the fiduciary's breach." Id., at 255, n. 5. No comparable duty was set forth in ERISA.
Our consideration of statutory duties, especially in cases interpreting § 10(b), establishes that the statutory text controls the definition of conduct covered by § 10(b). That bodes ill for respondents, for "the language of Section 10(b) does not in terms mention aiding and abetting." Brief for SEC as Amicus Curiae 8 (hereinafter Brief for SEC). To overcome this problem, respondents and the SEC suggest (or hint at) the novel argument that the use of the phrase "directly or indirectly" in the text of § 10(b) covers aiding and abetting. See Brief for Respondents 15 ("Inclusion of those who act 'indirectly' suggests a legislative purpose fully
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