Definition of "obiter"

obiter

adverb
not comparable
1. (formal) Incidentally; in passing.
  Quotations
  I will not here stand to discuss obiter, whether stars be causes, or signs; or to apologize for judicial astrology.
  1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps
noun
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.