Obiter Dictum in the United States

A statement contained in a court’s opinion that goes beyond what is necessary to dispose of the question. Obiter dictum (singular) or obiter dicta (plural), sometimes simply called dictum or dicta, are normally directed at issues upon which no formal arguments have been heard. The positions represented in obiter dicta are therefore not binding on later cases. Dicta are not considered precedent-setting and should be distinguished from ratio decidendi, which provides the legal basis of the court’s ruling.

See Also

Precedence (Apellate Judicial Process) Ratio Decidendi (Apellate Judicial Process).

Analysis and Relevance

Obiter dicta can be found in many appellate court opinions. If dicta are not recognized as such, they can blur the principles contained in a ruling. In Myers v. United States (272 U.S. 52: 1926), for example, the Supreme Court held that Congress could not require Senate consent for presidential removal of postmasters. Postmasters are executive branch subordinates serving at the pleasure of the president. If the opinion had been confined to postmasters, it would not have been particularly important. Chief Justice Taft, a former president, wrote the majority opinion and asserted that the removal power is incident to the power of appointment, as distinguished from the power of advice and consent. The principle that emerged from this view was that presidents could remove anyone nominated by them to any position, including members of quasi-judicial agencies such as regulatory commissions. Myers did not require disposition of that broader question to settle the postmastership issue. Thus the remarks of the chief justice went beyond those necessary to decide the case and were therefore dicta.

Notes and References

1. Definition of Obiter Dictum from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California

Obiter Dictum Definition

See “Dictum.”

Obiter Dictum in Foreign Legal Encyclopedias

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This definition of Obiter Dictum Is based on the The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary . This definition needs to be proofread..

See Also

Dictum in this Legal Encyclopedia
Dictum definition in the Law Dictionary

Obiter Dictum

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled 197 OBITER DICTUM(Latin: “Said in passing In an opinion, a judge may make observations or incidental remarks. Because these comments are unnecessary to the decision, they are not a part of the holding and thus do not bind the court in later cases. Such statements are often referred to by the plural,
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Obiter Dictum in the Context of Law Research

The Thurgood Marshall School of Law Library defined briefly Obiter Dictum as: An incidental comment, not necessary to the formulation of the decision, made by the judge in his or her opinion. Such comments are not binding as precedent.Legal research resources, including Obiter Dictum, help to identify the law that governs an activity and to find materials that explain that law.