Ratio Descidendi
- Established in Common Law
- The reason or reasoning behind a judicial decision
- This decision binds all courts lower than, as well as on the same level of the court making the decision
- It is binding and thus somewhat certain but it is also flexible in that judges can distinguish between legal cases and higher courts can overturn lower court decisions.
- This is in contrast to obiter dicta which is a judges musings on route to reaching a decision. Such musings can be persuasive, particularly in lower courts.
- E.g. See the amusing reasoning given in the famous letting legal case of Street v Mountford.
Published: 29 September 2015
Last Updated: 30 November 2021