A Comparative Perspective on Obiter dicta: from persuasive authority to seriously considered dicta

This paper addresses the use of “obiter dicta” in Australia and Italy, at first, two specimensof common law and civil lawtraditions. However, both countries have variations on their tradition –Italy with the maxim and recent judicial discussion of the value of obiter dictain certain cases, and Australia witha direction from the High Court of Australia to lower courts to follow its “seriously considered” obiter dictaand to intermediate appellate courts to follow each other unless they are “plainly wrong”. Both these moves show the complex nature of the legal process and the intricacies of persuasiveness across the jurisdictions.