The spirit of the law, the letter of the law, and bad Badminton

Eight women’s doubles badminton players from China, South Korea, and Indonesia were disqualified from the 2012 Olympics after throwing matches in order to manipulate future match-up opponents. Although it was technically not illegal to attempt to lose on purpose, the Olympic Committee decided it violated the spirit of competition and warranted their disqualification. I’ve often heard lawyers criticized for attempting to win a case on a technicality or by arguing that someone may have violated the spirit of the law but not the letter of the law. It doesn’t happen as often as people might think. Like the bad badminton players, most litigants will find that a case is won or lost based not on what they believe is right or wrong but on whether a judge or jury decides they actually did something wrong.