Obiter dicta

The 'obiter dicta' part of the judgement, although often helpful in future cases, and influential, is not binding.It is Latin for a statement "said in passing"

The judge will sometimes speculate on what his decision might have been had the facts of the case been different.  It is not always easy to separate the 'ratio decidendi' from the 'obiter dicta' in the judgment as the judgement may consist of many pages and there are no headings labelling which part of the judgement consists of the 'ratio' and that part which constitutes the 'obiter dicta' part.