Cite as: 523 U. S. 213 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
as a whole, then, § 523(a)(2)(A) is best read to prohibit the discharge of any liability arising from a debtor's fraudulent acquisition of money, property, etc., including an award of treble damages for the fraud.
The history of the fraud exception reinforces our reading of § 523(a)(2)(A). The Bankruptcy Act of 1898 prohibited discharge of "judgments in actions for frauds, or obtaining property by false pretenses or false representations," § 17, 30 Stat. 550, and an award of punitive damages for fraud plainly fits in the category of "judgments in actions for fraud." The exception was broadened in 1903 to include all "liabilities for obtaining property by false pretenses or false representations," § 5, 32 Stat. 798, language that, a fortiori, encompasses liability for punitive damages. See Brown, 442 U. S., at 138 (interpreting the provision as prohibiting discharge of "all debts arising out of conduct specified" therein); In re St. Laurent, 991 F. 2d, at 679 (noting "practice of holding debts for punitive damages nondis-chargeable" under this exception "if the compensatory damages . . . were themselves nondischargeable"). And the Bankruptcy Act of 1978 enacted a "substantially similar" provision, Brown, supra, at 129, n. 1, barring discharge of "any debt . . . for obtaining money, property, services, or . . . credit, by . . . false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud." 11 U. S. C. § 523(a)(2)(A) (1982 ed.).
As the result of a slight amendment to the language in 1984, referred to in the legislative history only as a "stylistic change," see S. Rep. No. 98-65, p. 80 (1983), § 523(a)(2)(A) now excepts from discharge "any debt . . . for money, property, services, or . . . credit, to the extent obtained by . . . false pretenses, a false representation, or actual fraud." We, however, "will not read the Bankruptcy Code to erode past bankruptcy practice absent a clear indication that Congress intended such a departure," Davenport, 495 U. S., at 563, and the change to the language of § 523(a)(2)(A) in 1984 in no way signals an intention to narrow the established
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