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by chii 1582 days ago
> They're against the spirit of the law.

and if you're against the spirit, but find a loophole? you do not technically break the law, and achieve your objectives.

The law maker is at fault, if there are loop holes.

2 comments

Finding the spirit of the laws is usually just trying to judge how it matches with the ideals of the society as a whole (at least, best case scenario), as interpreted by the courts, so if you're against the spirit then you're probably against some ideal of the society.

Taking the idea of wage theft as an example, the spirit of the law is that as a society we typically don't want to be exploited by companies, but there exists no shortage of capitalists who are against the spirit of that suite of laws. I would call them antagonists to those ideals of society.

It would be interesting to hear about a law who's spirit you are against, and to try and match it up with a societal ideal. I can't come with anything myself right now. Perhaps weed? It's still mostly illegal here, but I think many courts in this day and age would be lenient, as it becomes clear that society's ideals have changed in that area.

(edit: I edited this comment a lot as my thoughts evolved on it, sorry if anyone caught it mid-edit)

> The law maker is at fault, if there are loop holes.

It's very tough to distinguish loopholes that were added accidentally by lawmakers, and loopholes that are added intentionally to appease corporate donors.

Either way the lawmaker is at fault for adding it.

A lawmaker isn't legally required to include your provision just because you donated to them.