What is the difference between ratio decidendi and obiter dicta?
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The question
In my legal skills module we have to identify the ratio of a case. The judgment is long and the judge discusses lots of points. How do I tell which parts are binding?
Short answer
The ratio decidendi is the legal reasoning necessary to reach the decision on the material facts, and it binds lower courts. Obiter dicta are remarks the judge makes that were not needed for the decision. They can be persuasive but are not binding.
Full expert answer
Law tutor
LLM, Solicitor (non-practising)
Identifying the ratio is a skill rather than a lookup, and judges themselves sometimes disagree about what an earlier ratio was. A consistent method will get you most of the way.
A method for finding the ratio
- Identify the material facts, meaning those the judge treats as legally significant
- Identify the legal question the court had to answer
- Find the principle the court applied to those facts to reach its answer
- Test it: if you removed this reasoning, would the outcome still follow? If not, it is part of the ratio
Recognising obiter
Obiter often appears as hypotheticals ('had the facts been different'), comments on points not argued, or reasoning in a dissenting judgment. Lord Denning's remarks on promissory estoppel in Central London Property Trust v High Trees House are a well-known example of obiter that later proved highly influential.
This answer explains a method for you to apply to your own work. Copying it into a submission would count as plagiarism, and it is indexed by similarity checkers.
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