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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame ==Origin== Latin, from neuter of ''dictus'', past participle of ''dicere'' *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_centu...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Judge2.jpg|right|frame]]

==Origin==
[[Latin]], from neuter of ''dictus'', past participle of ''dicere''
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century 1599]
==Definitions==
*1: a noteworthy [[statement]]: as
:a : a [[formal]] pronouncement of a [[principle]], [[proposition]], or [[opinion]]
:b : an [[observation]] intended or regarded as [[authoritative]]
*2: a judge's [[expression]] of [[opinion]] on a point other than the precise issue involved in determining a case
==Description==
In [[United States]] legal [[terminology]], a '''dictum''' (plural ''dicta'') is a statement of [[opinion]] or [[belief]] considered authoritative though not binding, because of the [[authority]] of the person making it.

There are multiple subtypes of ''dicta'', although due to their overlapping nature, legal practitioners in the U.S. colloquially use ''dicta'' to refer to any [[statement]] by a [[court]] that extends beyond the issue before the court. ''Dicta'' in this sense are not binding under the [[principle]] of ''[v stare decisis]'', but tend to have a strong persuasive [[effect]], either by being in an authoritative decision, stated by an [[authoritative]] judge, or both. These subtypes include:

*''dictum proprium'': A personal or [[individual]] dictum that is given by the judge who delivers an [[opinion]] but that is not necessarily concurred in by the whole [[court]] and is not essential to the disposition.
*''gratis dictum'': an assertion that a person makes without being [[obligated]] to do so, or also a court's [[discussion]] of points or [[questions]] not raised by the record or its suggestion of rules not applicable in the case at bar.
*''judicial dictum'': an [[opinion]] by a [[court]] on a question that is directly involved, briefed, and [[argued]] by counsel, and even passed on by the court, but that is not essential to the [[decision]].
*''obiter dictum'' in [[Latin]] means "something said in passing" and is a comment made while delivering a judicial [[opinion]], but it is unnecessary to the [[decision]] in the case and therefore not precedential (although it may be considered persuasive).
*''simplex dictum'': an unproved or [[dogmatic]] statement.

In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_law English law], a ''dictum'' is any [[statement]] made as part of a [[judgment]] of a [[court]]. Thus the term includes ''dicta'' merely in passing (referred to as ''obiter dicta'') that are not a necessary part of the reason for the court's [[decision]] (referred to as the ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratio_decidendi ratio decidendi]''). English lawyers do not, as a rule, categorise dicta more finely than into those that are ''obiter'' and those that are not.

[[Category: Law]]

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