"Obiter dicta are persuasive, never binding."

A foundational rule of common law

Obiter Dictum

"Something said in passing."

Under stare decisis, courts must follow the ratio of higher court decisions — but not the obiter. That said, obiter remarks from senior courts carry real persuasive force and routinely shape how later judges reason through novel issues.

Classic example

In Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562, Lord Atkin's "neighbour principle" — the bedrock of negligence law — was largely obiter in its wider formulation. The House of Lords decided only the snail-in-the-bottle facts, yet Atkin's broader remarks on duty of care defined tort law for a century.

The practical skill: reading a case means knowing which parts bind and which merely guide. Treating an obiter remark as settled law is a classic — and costly — error.

When a judge speaks in passing, the law listens — but is not obliged to follow.