Ratio Decidendi in the United States

The essential legal basis upon which a judicial decision rests. The ratio decidendi constitutes the principle of law established by the decision. It is this essential core of the decision that becomes a precedent upon which subsequent decisions are to be based. The ratio decidendi is distinguished from obiter dicta, which are statements in a court opinion on matters not essential to the resolution of questions of law. The principle of Stare Decisis (Apellate Judicial Process) rests on the idea that courts will embrace the ratio decidendi of a particular decision when a subsequent case involving the same issue comes before it.

See Also

Majority Opinion (Apellate Judicial Process) Obiter Dictum (Apellate Judicial Process) Precedence (Apellate Judicial Process).

Analysis and Relevance

The ratio decidendi is the central proposition that resolves a question of law. It is the irreducible core of a decision. The ratio decidendi produces res judicata, a matter resolved by judgment. There are many cases that contain both ratio decidendi and dicta. One is Watkins v. United States (354 U.S. 178: 1957), in which the Warren Court considered the investigatory power of Congress. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) had found Watkins in contempt for his refusal to disclose certain information. The core of the decision was the pertinency issue. In the Court’s view, HUAC had not properly indicated to Watkins how the questions on which he withheld response were “pertinent” to the Committee’s inquiry. This defect was in itself enough to reverse Watkins’s contempt conviction on vagueness grounds. Chief Justice Warren proceeded further, however. He responded to dimensions of the case that were more directly argued by Watkins and spoke to the matter of witness rights vis-a-vis congressional power to investigate. Warren concluded this discussion with the dictum that Congress did not possess the power to “expose for the sake of exposure.”

Notes and References

1. Definition of Ratio Decidendi from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California

Ratio Decidendi in the United States

Ratio Decidendi

United States Constitution

According to the Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, about its article titled 357 RATIO DECIDENDI(Latin: “Reason for being decided A statement made in an opinion of the court is either ratio decidendi or obiter dictum. Ratio decidendi refers to a statement that is a necessary part of the chain of reasoning leading to the decision of the case, while obiter dictum (“said by the
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Meaning of Ratio Decidendi

In plain or simple terms, Ratio Decidendi means: The reason for the decision.