spirit of the law
Law's true meaning
The spirit of the law is its underlying purpose or intent, as opposed to its exact wording.
Someone who follows the spirit of the law honors what a rule was meant to accomplish, even if technically compliant behavior might allow something different: The loophole was legal, but it violated the spirit of the law.
Courts often invoke the spirit of the law when literal interpretation would produce absurd or unjust results.
- intentPlanned purpose
- reading between linesPerceiving unstated meaning
- flexibilityAbility to adapt easily
- benefit of doubtFavorable judgment given uncertainly
- forbearancePatient self-control, delayed enforcement
true intent · common sense · interpretation · principle · unwritten rules · justice · casuistry · fairness · fair play · equity · natural law · human dignity · teleology · legislation · judicial discretion · bona fides · moral compass · analogy
- Jesus' teachingsSermon on the Mount, beatitudes, Beatitudes, love your enemies, Lord's Prayer
- legal termstrial, legal, appeal, lawsuit, law
spirit of the lawletter of the law
Exact statutory language
textualism · literal interpretation · formalism · originalism · literalism
spirit of the lawlegalism
Excessive adherence to rules
malicious compliance · rules lawyering · gaming the system · box-ticking · going through the motions
spirit, spirits, spirited, spiritual, spirituality, spiritually, dispirit, dispirited, lawful