Body, soul, and spirit of the law: Towards a holistic legal paradigm

Abstract

This article explores potential applications of the body-soul-spirit metaphor in the legal realm. After a justification of the validity of the metaphor as a source of legal meaning, and an explanation of the trichotomy body-soul-spirit in the light of St Paul's letters and Edith Stein's writings, the author focuses on some current debates in which the use of the metaphor sheds new light. Based on this metaphor, the author argues for the respect of the law as a whole; the use of the spirit of foreign law by national legal systems; the living character of the constitutional body; the emergence of a global law founded on solidarity and not on the self-interest of nation states; the intrinsic link between law and love; and the reasonable interaction between human law and supra-rational (or divine) law.