NOUN
- an incidental remark
- an opinion voiced by a judge on a point of law not directly bearing on the case in question and therefore not binding
How To Use obiter dictum In A Sentence
- This branch, under ordinary precedent, simply threw the case out of court; but in addition, the decision, proceeding with what lawyers call obiter dictum, went on to declare that under the Constitution of the United States neither Congress nor a territorial legislature possessed power to prohibit slavery in Federal Territories. A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln
- From an _obiter dictum_ of one of the judges in the case it would appear that the order of amotion from the bench of this Province was finally set aside on technical grounds, owing to the appellant's not having been heard in Canada. The Story of the Upper Canada Rebellion
- In such instances, it is referred to as obiter dictum (dictum for short, dicta being the plural) - meaning it is not binding as precedent, as it is a merely personal view of the justice. Lone Star Times