I have exactly this question. I tried this:
Code:
<form:form commandName="myCommand">
<spring:bind path="myCommand">
<c:if test="${status.error}">
One or more fields in your submission contained errors.
</c:if>
</spring:bind>
...
Despite the fact that there were error codes coming in of the form *.myCommand.* that were picked up fine by the <form:errors> tag, my general message didn't display.
Obviously, using <form:errors path="*"> isn't good because I don't want a list of field errors, I just want a general message.