[dragonwriter]

> And yet judges talk about the "spirit of law", as distinct from the "letter of the law", all the time.

No, they don't; I've read lots of legal decisions, and that phrase or anything like it is rarely invoked. Pundits, not judges, are prone to talk about the spirit of the law as opposed to the letter; judges are more prone to talk about legislative intent (not "spirit of the law"), not distinct from the letter of the law, but as part of the analysis of which of several facially plausible meanings the letter of the law should be given in the context of the specific fact pattern presented in the case they are dealing with.