Ratio Decidendi and Obiter Dictum

Abstract

Although the doctrine of binding precedent states that all courts bind all lower courts and some courts also bind themselves, it would be wrong to conclude that everything contained in a decision is of equal weight. The traditional view is that we have to differentiate between the ratio decidendi of a judgement, which will be the binding part, and the obiter dicta, which will be the non-binding part. In order to make sense of this statement we must not only analyse what we mean by ratio decidendi and obiter dictum (which is the singular of obiter dicta), but must also consider more precisely what we mean in the present context by bindingness. Before doing so, however, we must identify a trap in order to avoid falling into it.