Cite as: 516 U. S. 59 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
able, reliance. See In re Vann, 67 F. 3d 277 (CA11 1995); In re Kirsh, 973 F. 2d 1454 (CA9 1992).
It should go without saying that our analysis does not relegate all reasoning from a negative pregnant to the rubbish heap, or render the reasonableness of reliance wholly irrelevant under § 523(a)(2)(A). As for the rule of construction, of course it is not illegitimate, but merely limited. The more apparently deliberate the contrast, the stronger the inference, as applied, for example, to contrasting statutory sections originally enacted simultaneously in relevant respects, see Gozlon-Peretz v. United States, 498 U. S., at 404 (noting that a single enactment created provisions with language that differed). Even then, of course, it may go no further than ruling out one of several possible readings as the wrong one. The rule is weakest when it suggests results strangely at odds with other textual pointers, like the common-law lanv. Owens, 263 N. C. 754, 758-759, 140 S. E. 2d 311, 314 (1965) (referring to reasonable reliance, but applying standard as preventing seller from saying that buyer ought not to have been so gullible as to trust him, unless the circumstances are such that buyer appears to have known the truth); Steiner v. Roberts, 72 Ohio L. Abs. 391, 396, 131 N. E. 2d 238, 242 (App. 1955) (applying standard from Restatement (First)); Furtado v. Gemmell, 242 Ore. 177, 182, 408 P. 2d 733, 735 (1965) (holding that a representee has some duty, although less than a duty to exercise reasonable care, to protect his interest); Emery v. Third National Bank of Pittsburgh, 314 Pa. 544, 547-548, 171 A. 881, 882 (1934) (stating that a representee must be " 'justified in relying' " on the misrepresentation); Parks v. Morris Homes Corp., 245 S. C. 461, 466-467, 141 S. E. 2d 129, 132 (1965) (referring to reasonable prudence and diligence, but defining it as depending on intelligence, age, experience, mental and physical condition of the parties, their respective knowledge, and their means of knowledge); Scherf v. Myers, 258 N. W. 2d 831, 835 (S. D. 1977) (stating that justifiable reliance applies in analogous situation of indemnity based on fraud); Chiles v. Kail, 34 Wash. 2d 600, 606, 208 P. 2d 1198, 1201-1202 (1949) (stating that test is not what a reasonable and prudent man would have done but whether plaintiff, in the condition he was in, had a right to rely); First National Bank in Oshkosh v. Scieszinski, 25 Wis. 2d 569, 575-576, 131 N. W. 2d 308, 312 (1964) (requiring justifiable reliance with no general duty to investigate).
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