Definition of "obiter dictum" []

• Law An opinion voiced by a judge that has only incidental bearing on the case in question and is therefore not binding. Also called dictum. (noun)
• An incidental remark or observation; a passing comment. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "R. Cross, the leading modern English writer on precedent, declines to regard the distinction between ratio decidendi and obiter dictum as “entirely chimerical” in English law and concludes that to accept the views of Judge Jerome"