ACCA Applied Skills · Corporate and Business Law (Global) · Business, political and legal systems
A court in a common law country is deciding a dispute. A decision of a higher court in the same jurisdiction, on materially identical facts, is available. Under the doctrine of binding precedent, which part of that earlier decision must the lower court follow?
The lower court must follow the ratio decidendi of the higher court's decision, meaning the legal principle essential to reaching that result. Obiter dicta and dissenting judgments are merely persuasive and do not bind, because they were not necessary to the decision itself.
- AThe ratio decidendiCorrect
- BThe obiter dicta
- CThe facts of the case only
- DThe dissenting judgment
Explanation
The ratio decidendi is the legal principle necessary for the decision, and it binds lower courts. Obiter dicta are incidental remarks and are only persuasive. Dissenting judgments do not form the decision of the court, so they do not bind.
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