Earlier quoted context omitted.
Compliance with the spirit is the objective. Sometimes the spirit and the letter differ for any number of reasons (many of which are completely reasonable). People tend to get pretty upset when someone is very clearly complying with the letter while flying in complete opposition to the spirit, and it's not always an easy fix.
That's why the letter of the law needs to be updated to better reflect the spirit. Imagine if police could arrest you, and keep you, without telling you why. That's something that society figured out a long time ago isn't healthy.
The judicial system that backs it is a massive beast. If someone wants that level of assurances, they should be paying thousands of dollars for a github account. You get the level of perfection you pay for.