Dictum

If the construction put by the court of a State upon one of its statutes was not a matter in judgment, if it might have been decided either way without affecting any right brought into question, then, according to the principles of the common law, an opinion on such a question is not a decision. To make it so, there must have been an application of the judicial mind to the precise question necessary to be determined to fix the rights of the parties and decide to whom the property in contestation belongs. And therefore this court and other courts organized under the common law, has never held itself bound by any part of an opinion, in any case, which was not needful to the ascertainment of the right or title in question between the parties.

An opinion expressed by a court, but which, not being necessarily involved in the case, lacks the force of an adjudication. Usually given obiter dictum. An opinion expressed by a court, upon a point in a case argued and deliberately passed on, though not essential to the disposition of a case, and hence lacks the fo;rce of an adjudication. 227 111. 337. It frequently happens that, in assigning its opinion upon a question before it, the court discusses collateral questions, and expresses a decided opinion upon them. Such opinions, however, are frequently given without much reflection, or without previous argument at the bar; and as, moreover, they do not enter into the adjudication of the point before it, they have only that authority which may be accorded to the opinion, more or less deliberate, of the individual judge who announces it. It may be observed that in recent times, particularly in those jurisdictions where appeals are largely favored, the ancient practice of courts in this respect is much modified. Formerly, judges aimed to confine their opinion to the precise point involved, and were glad to make that point as narrow as it might justly be. Where appeals are frequent, however, a strong tendency may be seen to fortify the judgment given with every principle that can be invoked in its behalf,— those that are merely collateral, as well as those that are necessarily involved. In some courts of last resort, also, when there are many judges, it is not unfrequently the case that, while the court come to one and the same conclusion, the different judges may be led to that conclusion by different views of the law, so that it becomes difficult to determine what is to be regarded as the principle upon which the case was decided, and what shall be deemed mere dicta. According to the more rigid rule, an expression of opinion, however deliberate, upon a question, however fully argued, if not essential to the disposition that was made of the case, may be regarded as a dictum; but it is, on the other hand, said that it is difficult to see why,_ in a philosophical point of view, the opinion of the court is not as persuasive on all the points which were so involved in the cause that it was the duty of counsel to argue them, and which were deliberately passed over by the court, as if the decision had hung upon but one point. 1 Abb. N. Y. Dig. pref. iv. Consult 17 Serg. & R. (Pa.) 292; 1 Phillim. Ecc. Law, 406; 1 Eng. Ecc. 129; Bam. & Aid. 341; 2 Bing. 90. The doctrine of the courts of Prance on this subject is stated in 11 Toullier, Dr. Civ. 177, note 133. As to weight given to dicta in former decisions, see 6 Wheat. (U. S.) 399; 4 Heisk. (Tenn.) 419. In French Law. The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it. Poth. Proc. Civ. pi. 1, c. 5, art. 2.

In general. A statement, remark or observation. Oratis dictum; a gratuitous or voluntary representation; one which a party is not bound to make. 2 Kent, Comm. 486. Simplex dictum; a mere assertion; an assertion without proof. Bract, fol. 320. The word is generally used as an abbreviated form of obiter dictum, "a remark by the way;" that is, an observation or remark made by a judge in pronouncing an opinion upon a cause, concerning some rule, principle, or application of law, or the solution of a question suggested by the case at bar, but not necessarily involved in the case or essential to its determination; any statement of the law enunciated by the court merely by way of illustration, argument, analogy, or suggestion. See Railroad Co. v. Schutte, 103 U. S. 118,143, 26 In Ed. 327; In re Woodruff (D. C.) 96 Fed. 317; Hart v. Stribling, 25 Fla. 433, 6 South. 455; Buchner v. Railroad Oo„ 60 Wis. 264, 19 N. W. 56; Rush v. French, 1 Ariz. 99, 25 Pan. 816; State v. Clarke, 3 Nev. 572. Dicta are opinions of a judge which do not embody the resolution or determination of the couit, and made without argument, or full consideration of the point, are not the professed deliberate determinations of the judge himself. Obiter dicta are such opinions uttered by the way, not upon the point or question pending, as if turning aside for the lime from the main topic of the case to collateral subjects. Rohrbach v. Insurance Co., 62 N. Y. 47, 58, 20 Am. Repi 451 In old English law. Dictum meant an arbitrament or the award of arbitrators.

In French law. The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it Poth. Proc. Civil, pt. 1, c. 5, art. 2.

— Dictum de Kenilworth. The edict or declaration of Kenilworth. An edict or award between King Henry III. and nil the barons and others who had been in arms against him; and so called because it was made at Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire, in the fifty-first year of his reign, containing a composition or five years' rent for the lands and es tates of those who had forfeited them in that rebellion. Blount; 2 Reeve, Eng. Law, 62.

pi. dicta, L I. A saying or remark; an opinion expressed by a ' judge either aside from the point to be decided, and hence said to be extra-judicial or obiter; or given without deliberation, as a hasty opinion at nisi prius. v. Obiter dictum.

In old English law. The verdict of a jury. Die by his own hand. In a policy of life insurance, an act of criminal self-destruction, not suicide by an insane person. Die without heirs, m- children, or issue: in a will, as applied to realty, prima facie an indefinite failure of issue, or the death of all descendants; as to personalty, without heirs living at the death of the first taker.

In general. A statement, remark, or observation. Gratis dictum; a gratuitous or voluntary representation; one which a party is not bound to make. 2 Kent, Comm. 486. Simplex dictum; a mere assertion; an assertion without proof. Bract. fol. 320. The word is generally used as an abbreviated form of obiter dictum, "a remark by the way;" that is, an observation or remark made by a judge in pronouncing an opinion upon a cause, concerning some rule, principle, or application of law, or the solution of a question suggested by the case at bar, but not necessarily involved in the case or essential to its determination; any statement of the law enunciated by the court merely by way of illustration, argument, analogy, or suggestion. Dicta are opinions of a judge which do not embody the resolution or determination of the court, and made without argument, or full consideration of the point, are not the professed deliberate determinations of the judge himself. Obiter dicta are such opinions uttered by the way, not upon the point or question pending, as if turning aside for the time from the main topic of the case to collateral subjects. 62 N. Y. 47, 58.

In French law. The report of a judgment made by one of the judges who has given it. Poth. Proc. Civil, pt. 1, c. 5, art. 2.

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.

(pi. DICTA.) L.Lat. [from dicere, to say.] A saying or remark; an opinion expressed by a judge in deciding a cause or question, either aside from the point to be decided, and hence said to be extra judicial, or obiter, (by the way) or given without deliberation, as a hasty opinion at nisi prius,* Lord Mansfield, in Saunderson v, Rowles, observed upon an opinion of Lord Holt, cited on the argument of the cause, *' that is an obiter saying only, and not a resolution or determination of the court, or a direct, soleom opinion of the great judge from whom it dropped. This dictum of Lord Chief Justice Holt's is no formed decisive resolution, no adjudication, no professed deliberate determination." 4 Burr, 2064, 2068. These extra-judicial dicta are not usually considered as binding upon courts. 2 Powell on Dev, (by Jarman,) 200. 2 Kent's Com^ 111, 835. An assertion or statement. Gratis dictum; a gratuitous or voluntary representation; one which a party is not bound to make. 2 Kent's Com. 466. Simplex dictum; a mere assertion; an assertion without proof. Bract, fol. 320.

In old practice. The verdict of a jury. Sijuratores in dicto suo perseverent; if the jurors persist in their verdict. Bract, fol. 201. Si velint emendare dictum suum; if they wish to amend their verdict. Id, fol. 296. See /(f. fol. 292. Dictum is one of the component parts of the word verdict, [veredictum, q. v.)