the spirit and the letter of the law
1letter of the law — n. A strict, literal, word for word interpretation of laws and statutes. See also spirit of the law The Essential Law Dictionary. Sphinx Publishing, An imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. Amy Hackney Blackwell. 2008. letter of the law …
2spirit of the law — index equity (justice) Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 spirit of the law …
3Letter and spirit of the law — The letter of the law versus the spirit of the law is an idiomatic antithesis. When one obeys the letter of the law but not the spirit, he is obeying the literal interpretation of the words (the letter ) of the law, but not the intent of those… …
4The Letter of the Law — See Letter and spirit of the law for the idiomatic expression. The Letter of the Law is a short story by P. G. Wodehouse, which first appeared in the United States in the February 1936 edition of Redbook , and in the United Kingdom in the April… …
5(the) letter of the law — formal the exact words of a law and not its more important general meaning. There is always the danger that a judge may follow the letter of the law rather than its spirit …
6law — / lȯ/ n [Old English lagu, of Scandinavian origin] 1: a rule of conduct or action prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority: as a: a command or provision enacted by a legislature see also statute 1 b:… …
7The Pope — The Pope † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Pope (Ecclesiastical Latin papa from Greek papas, a variant of pappas father, in classical Latin pappas Juvenal, Satires 6:633). The title pope, once used with far greater latitude (see below …
8The Blessed Virgin Mary — The Blessed Virgin Mary † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Blessed Virgin Mary The Blessed Virgin Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, the mother of God. In general, the theology and history of Mary the Mother of God follow the… …
9The Church — The Church † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Church The term church (Anglo Saxon, cirice, circe; Modern German, Kirche; Sw., Kyrka) is the name employed in the Teutonic languages to render the Greek ekklesia (ecclesia), the term by which… …
10The Irish (in Countries Other Than Ireland) — The Irish (in countries other than Ireland) † Catholic Encyclopedia ► The Irish (in countries other than Ireland) I. IN THE UNITED STATES Who were the first Irish to land on the American continent and the time of their arrival are …
