The Letter of the Law vs. the Spirit of the Law

Criminal statutes spell out, usually in clear words and sentences, proscribed behavior. In other words, they expressly define what people must not do. Such actual text is known as the letter of the law.

The reason for the existence of the vast majority of statutes is readily comprehensible. For example, in common law, petit theft is defined in the letter of the law as “taking and carrying away the property of another with intent to permanently deprive. . .” A person who legally owns property has the right to keep that property and has an interest in doing so. One who comes along and steals that property didn’t work for it, pay for it, has no standing to possess it, and causes hardship on the party from whom it is taken. In this case, the reason for the existence of laws forbidding theft is obvious. This “reason for existence” is known as the spirit of the law.

The spirit of the law can be understood in terms of recognizing exactly what harm a given law is designed to prevent. This is essentially important for criminal defense law. 

Legal Loopholes

While most laws are well-crafted and therefore accurately define and proscribe behavior that causes harm, some might not be so well planned. Instances can arise in which a person follows the letter of the law, but violates the spirit of the law. Such an instance is known as a loophole. To understand legal loopholes, consider the following theoretical scenario.

An old and small town has very narrow streets. Twice a month, street sweepers clean one side of each street. To facilitate this cleaning, town ordinance prohibits parking on the appropriate side of the street at appropriate times, and signage clearly promulgates this. Since the vehicles have literally no other place to park, the town allows double parking on the opposite side of the street during cleaning times so long as a cell phone number is visibly left and the double-parked car can be moved within fifteen minutes of a demand by any citizen to do so.

Simultaneously, another town ordinance states: “No car shall park adjacent to portions of a curb painted yellow unless the driver is currently conducting business with the adjacent shop.” The spirit of this law is that these yellow zones allow shopkeepers to conduct business by allowing delivery trucks to temporarily park in front of their shops while making deliveries and for customers to temporarily park while picking up merchandise and loading it into their vehicles. Without these pick-ups and deliveries, the businesses granted the yellow zones could not function in this small area.

A citizen who is well versed in the letter of the law but not so well concerned with his civic responsibility double parks in front of the yellow zone, rather than “adjacent to” it. This citizen, therefore, violates no law, but does succeed in disrupting the flow of transactions in the adjacent shop, and therefore violates the spirit of the law.

Contact Us for Professional Assistance with Your Case

It is well within the realm of possibility that a person might commit the inverse of the above, by violating the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. Such circumstances could be argued to be mitigating circumstances, and might lead a court to impose either a lesser penalty or even no penalty at all. Good police officers who think on their feet recognize this and use discretion in making a decision not to cite. An example is a motorist who violates a red traffic light, after determining it is safe to do so and does so in an effort to allow an ambulance to pass an otherwise impassable intersection clogged with cars. If you or a loved one has been charged with some wrongdoing and you believe the spirit of the law was not violated, argue your case. 

Contact the criminal defense attorneys at The Nahajski Firm at (206) 621-0500 for a free and confidential initial consultation.