it's hard enough to interpret the letter of the law sometimes (i.e. ambiguous situations). You might as well have random or no laws then if you have to reflect

it's hard enough to interpret the letter of the law sometimes (i.e. ambiguous situations). You might as well have random or no laws then if you have to reflect about the fact whether you're breaking the "spirit of the law". This would mean different things to different people, and things are complex enough as they are. Also, the spirit of the law argument seems more like a pass to politicians for doing crappy legislative work. If you make proper laws, this shouldn't be an issue.