obiter dictum

English

From Latin obiter dictum (“something said by the way”).

obiter dictum (plural obiter dicta)

Examples

With reference to the example given in the entry of ratio decidendi:

Justice Smith delivered the dissenting judgment that "fruits" and "vegetables" should be given their biological meaning, so tomatoes should be classified as a fruit. As this is a minority opinion, this is obiter dictum.
Chief Justice Doe, who delivered the majority opinion, states that "based on these reasons, cucumbers and pumpkins should also be classified as vegetables". As this is irrelevant to that case, this statement is obiter dictum. It could become ratio decidendi in other cases if it is cited by a lower court.
A lower court of Albion is asked to adjudge a similar case, and the majority opinions from the Eagleland case are submitted for reference. As Albion courts are not bound to follow Eagleland cases, the majority opinions are obiter dictum, unless they are confirmed by a superior court in Albion.

An incidental remark; especially (law) a statement or remark in a court's judgment that is not essential to the disposition of the case. [from 18th c.]
- 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 128:
  Casual obiter dicta by men of accepted godliness belonged to a different category from the ecstatic claims to immediate revelation made by obscure persons who thrust themselves into the limelight […].
- 2010, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee, “The Text through Time”, in Statute Law Review‎^[1]:
  However, McHugh J noted obiter dicta that if the meaning of the word was construed at that level of abstraction today, ‘it would deny the Parliament of the Commonwealth the power to legislate for same sex marriages […]’.

statement not essential to the disposition of the case