Dictum

A saying, observation,, remark. Plural, dicta.

1.

A voluntary statement; a comment.

Gratis dictum

A gratuitous remark. A statement one is not required to make, and 1 4 Kent, 271. = Parr v. Parr, 7 Eng. Ch. *64S (1833). s Earl of Zetland v. Lord-Advocate, 3 Ap. Cas. 520 (1878). "Devolution of liability," 61 Wis. 380.

— In Louisiana an appeal may be " devolutive " or suspensive, 21 La. An. 295; 30 F. E. 538. ' [Prendergast v. Prendergast, 16 La. An. 220 (1861); Hamilton v. Hamilton, 6 Mart. 143 (1827). » State ex rel. Belf ord v. Hueston, 44 Ohio St. 6 (;

— for which he is not liable in damages for injury traceable thereto.i As, an assertion by a vendor that his land is fit for a, certain purpose, or is worth so much, cost so much, or that he has refused so much for it.' See Cavbat, Emptor; Commehdatio. 2. An opinion expressed by a judge on a point not necessarily arising in a case.2 Dicta are opinions of a judge which do not embody She resolution or determination of the court, and, being made without argument or full consideration, Eire not the professed deliberate determinations of the judge himself.' Obiter dicta. Such opinions, uttered " by the way," not upon the point or question pending, but as if turning aside for the time from the main topic to a collateral subject.3 Often, simply, obiter or an obiter. An expression of opinion upon a point in a case, argued by counsel and deliberately passed upon by the court, though not essential to the disposition of the case, if a dictum at all, is a " judicial " dictum as distinguished from a mere obiter dictum^ i. e., an expression originating alone with the judge who writes the Dpinion, as an argument or illustration.* To make an opinion a decision there must have been an application of the judicial mind to the precise c[uestion necessary to be determined in order to fix the rights of the parties. Therefore the Supreme Court has never held itself bound by any part of an opinion which was not needful to the ascertainment of the question between the parties.' "The case called for nothing more; if more was intended by the judge who delivered the opinion, it was purely otttcr."' Dicta are not binding as precedents; at most they receive the respect due to the private opinions of the judges by whom uttered.' See Dbcision; Opinion, 3.