obiter

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin obiter.

Adverb

obiter (not comparable)

1. (formal) Incidentally; in passing.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , New York, 2001, p.206:

     I will not here stand to discuss obiter, whether stars be causes, or signs; or to apologize for judicial astrology.

Noun

obiter (plural obiters)

1. (law) An obiter dictum; a statement from the bench commenting on a point of law which is not necessary for the judgment at hand and therefore has no judicial weight, as opposed to ratio decidendi.

Coordinate terms

• ratio decidendi, ratio

Related terms

• obiter scriptum

 

Anagrams

• brotie, torbie

Latin

Etymology

ob- +‎ iter

Adverb

obiter (not comparable)

1. on the way
2. incidentally

References

• “obiter”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “obiter”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• obiter in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.