Log in or Sign up
  1. obiter dictum love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Law An opinion voiced by a judge that has only incidental bearing on the case in question and is therefore not binding. Also called dictum.
  2. n. An incidental remark or observation; a passing comment.

Wiktionary

  1. n. law a statement or remark in a court's judgment that is not essential to the disposition of the case.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Law) An incidental and collateral opinion uttered by a judge. See dictum, n., 2 (a).

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an opinion voiced by a judge on a point of law not directly bearing on the case in question and therefore not binding
  2. n. an incidental remark

Etymologies

  1. Latin “a saying by the way” (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin, something said in passing : obiter, in passing + dictum, something said, from neuter past participle of dīcere, to say. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “R. Cross, the leading modern English writer on precedent, declines to regard the distinction between ratio decidendi and obiter dictum as “entirely chimerical” in English law and concludes that to accept the views of Judge Jerome”

    LEGAL PRECEDENT

Log in or sign up to add your own related words.

hypernyms (7)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. judgment
  1. legal opinion
  1. judgement
  1. opinion
  1. input
  1. remark
  1. comment

reverse dictionary (1)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. dictum

Wordmap

(beta)

Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘obiter dictum’.

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • hernesheir Thanks for listing this, by the way. Jun 9, 2010

Tweets

Looking for tweets for obiter dictum.

‘obiter dictum’ has been looked up 2036 times, loved by 1 person, added to 14 lists, commented on 1 time, and is not a valid Scrabble word.