Precedents are principles of law which are also conclusions, or decision in a cause; and not a process of reasoning or illustration or analogy.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) A precedent is a decision, not an argument — it establishes a principle of law by its holding, not by any reasoning, analogy, or illustration that may accompany it.

Where this applies

• A lawyer citing a precedent relies on the court's actual holding — not the judge's hypothetical reasoning in a footnote — because the precedent is the decision, not the discussion.
• A law student learns that what makes a case a precedent is its conclusion on the legal issue, not the analogies or illustrations the judge used to explain it.
• An appellate court clarifies that the binding part of an earlier ruling is its holding, not the dictum or reasoning that surrounded it.