Spirit of the law is defined. It's the first handful of sentences of any European regulation. And courts can and do rule in favour of lesser parties. If the leg

Spirit of the law is defined. It's the first handful of sentences of any European regulation. And courts can and do rule in favour of lesser parties. If the legislature has made a clerical mistake in writing the law, the court can disregard the mistake (a technicality) and rule in the lines of the spirit of the law.