The Letter of the Law - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

See Letter and spirit of the law
Letter and spirit of the law
The letter of the law versus the spirit of the law is an idiomatic antithesis. When one obeys the letter of the law but not the spirit, one is obeying the literal interpretation of the words of the law, but not the intent of those who wrote the law...

for the idiomatic expression.

"The Letter of the Law" is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

by P. G. Wodehouse

P. G. Wodehouse

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...

, which first appeared in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

in the February 1936 edition of Redbook
Redbook
Redbook is an American women's magazine published by the Hearst Corporation. It is one of the "Seven Sisters", a group of women's service magazines.-History:...

, and in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

in the April 1936 issue of the Strand
Strand Magazine
The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues, though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890.Its immediate...

. It was included in the UK collection Lord Emsworth and Others
Lord Emsworth and Others
-External links:* , with a list of characters and publication dates* , with details of published editions, photos of book covers and links to used copies...

(1937), and in the U.S. edition of Young Men in Spats
Young Men in Spats
Young Men in Spats is a collection of short stories by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 3 April 1936 by Herbert Jenkins, London, then in the United States with a slightly different selection of stories on 23 July 1936 by Doubleday, Doran, New York.The collection, recounting...

(1936). It is a golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

story, narrated by the Oldest Member

Oldest Member

The Oldest Member is a fictional character from the short stories and novels of P. G. Wodehouse. He narrates the majority of Wodehouse's golf stories from the terrace of a golf club whose location is unclear, and he never has a proper name....

Plot

The President's Cup and the love of Gwendolyne Poskitt occasion the only time the Oldest Member

Oldest Member

ever saw profit from driving into anyone. Young Wilmot Bing loves Gwendolyne, but has recently smitten her father (a member of the Wrecking Crew) a juicy one on the leg for holding up play. To win her hand, the Oldest Member recommends that Wilmot appease Poskitt, and he does so -- up to the day of the President's Cup match. In that match, Poskitt plays well above form, but ends up in match play against Wadswordth Hemmingway, an ex-lawyer-turned-golfer who carries the Book of Rules in his bag and makes it his best club. With one swing, Wilmot ensures that Poskitt gets the Cup and Wilmot gets his bride.

Plot

See also