dicta
Authoritative judicial remarks
Dicta is the plural of dictum—authoritative pronouncements or formal statements of principle.
In legal contexts, dicta (short for obiter dicta) refers to remarks in a judicial opinion that aren't essential to the decision and therefore don't establish binding precedent: The judge's comments on free speech were dicta, not part of the holding.
More broadly, dicta are any pronouncements from authority figures: the dicta of literary critics.
Philosophy governing legal systems
- precedentPrior authoritative example
- holdingMaintaining physical possession
- rulingFormal legal determination
- judgmentReasoned decision-making capacity
opinion · adjudication · litigation · brief · statute · case law · binding · authority
Not legally compulsory
- persuasiveAble to convince others
- remarksSpoken comments or notes
- asidesRemarks to audience only
- commentaryExplanatory remarks on events
advisory · extrajudicial · ancillary · incidental · rationale · explanatory · illustrative · interpretive
Authoritative legal command
- mandateFormal authoritative directive
- edictAuthoritative public command
- fiatAuthoritative official decree
- pronouncementFormal authoritative statement
injunction · proclamation · ukase · diktat · rescript · command · directive · order
jurisprudence
Philosophy governing legal systems
- precedentPrior authoritative example
- holdingMaintaining physical possession
- rulingFormal legal determination
judgment · opinion · adjudication · litigation · brief · statute · case law · binding · authority · citation
nonbinding
Not legally compulsory
- persuasiveAble to convince others
- remarksSpoken comments or notes
- asidesRemarks to audience only
commentary · advisory · extrajudicial · ancillary · incidental · rationale · explanatory · illustrative · interpretive · deliberations
decree
Authoritative legal command
- mandateFormal authoritative directive
- edictAuthoritative public command
- fiatAuthoritative official decree
pronouncement · injunction · proclamation · ukase · diktat · rescript · command · directive · order · canon
- proverbsproverbs, sayings, maxims, adages, aphorisms
- wisdomwisdom, sagacity, sapience, discernment, insight
- case lawcourt opinions, court cases, court decisions, binding precedent, judicial decisions
- court documentscourt opinions, brief, court order, complaint, court ruling
- expressionsexpression, I love you, phrase, idioms, thank you
- sayingssayings, saying, proverb, proverbs, adage
dictaasides
Remarks to audience only
musings · whispers · small talk · chitchat · silence
dictaquestions
Requests for information
hedges · qualifications · equivocations · suggestions · uncertainties
- dictionary definitionA word's stated meaning
- concise dictionaryShortened word reference book
- English dictionaryReference for word meanings
- online dictionaryWeb resource for definitions
- dictionary entrySingle word's documented meaning
- rhyming dictionaryReference for similar-sounding endings
dictionary, predict, verdict, dictate, prediction, contradict, contradiction, dictum, diction