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

Anagrams

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.
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