SSN Policy Manual

What Does That Mean

The Meaning of the Word "fail" Black's Law Dictionary defines the meaning of the word fail as:

Fail. Fault, negligence, or refusal.

That is, you fail to do something because you were lazy and forgot or because you simply refuse. You do not fail to do something because it is beyond your control. For example, you cannot fail to furnish a telephone number if you don't have a telephone.

So, What Does it Really Mean? If the law says that you shall furnish your telephone number and you have a telephone number, then you could furnish it. However, there is no expectation for you to furnish your telephone number if you do not have a telephone and you have not failed to furnish that which you do no have. If the law says that you shall include your name and address, you would not interpret that to also include your telephone number. In the legal since the list following the word include is the entire list of everything included; nothing else can be interpreted to be added to the list. The legal meaning of words are often given specific meaning within the confines of a title or section within the law, for example:

10 USC Sec. 101 TITLE 10 - ARMED FORCES Subtitle A - General Military Law PART I - ORGANIZATIONAND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS CHAPTER 1 - DEFINITIONS Sec. 101 . Definitions

(e) Rules of Construction. - In this title - (1) "shall" is used in an imperative sense; (2) "may" is used in a permissivesense; (3) "no person may * * *" means that no person is required, authorized, or permitted to do the act prescribed; (4) "includes" means "includes but is not limited to"; and It is also important to read these definitions carefully, because their usage is often more restricted than it first appears. A good example of this is found for the definition for include that is provided in the United States tax law in Title 26: The terms "includes" and "including" when used in a definition contained in this title shall not be deemed to exclude other things otherwise within the meaning of the term defined. We see that the word include has the intended usage that we expect fiom our common language. However, notice that this usage is restricted to "when used in a definition." That is to say that when the word include is used only within the contents of a definition for a word 26 USC 57701. Definitions (c) Includes and including

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