Definition

Holding (procedural law, common law) (Ro.: decizie, Fr.: décision, n.f., Gr.: συμπέρασμα δικαστικής απόφασης, Cz.: závazné stanovisko) (See also: binding precedent, dictum, jurisprudence, ratio decidendi, stare decisis) = a written legal opinion of a court, or the statement of law applied by a court in response to a certain issue, necessary to reach a final decision. In common law systems, holdings bind the court itself, lower courts, and later courts.

Since precedent is not binding in civil law jurisdictions, judges are not bound by holdings of other judges.

 

Useful links

Case Law

http://openjurist.org/609/f2d/51/united-states-v-rubin - United States v. Rubin, United States Court of Appeals, 1979

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/88/162.html - Minor v. Happersett, United States Supreme Court, 1874

Online Publications 

https://info.legalsolutions.thomsonreuters.com/pdf/perspec/2011-spring/2011-spring-6.pdf

 - Stinson, Judith M., 2011, Teaching the holding/dictum distinction, thomsonreuters.com

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/legal-reas-prec/ - 2006, Precedent and Analogy in Legal Reasoning, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

http://practicum.brooklaw.edu/sites/default/files/print/pdfs/journals/brooklyn-law-review/volume-76/issue-1/blr_v76i_3.pdf - Stinson, Judith M., Why Dicta Becomes Holding and Why It Matters, Brooklyn Law Review

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1318389 – Blackman, Josh, 2008, Much Ado About Dictum; or, How to Evade Precedent Without Really Trying: The Distinction between Holding and Dictum, Social Science Research Network

http://jonathanturley.org/2011/10/23/holdings-dicta-and-stare-decisis/ - Drumm, David, 2011, Holdings, Dicta, and Stare Decisis, jonathanturley.org

https://www.law.kuleuven.be/jura/art/21n3/vong.pdf - Vong, David, Binding precedent and English judicial law-making, kuleuven.be

Publications

Duxbury, Neil, 2008, The Nature and Authority of Precedent, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 

Peters, Christopher J., 2014, Precedent in the United States Supreme Court, USA, Springer Science & Business Media

 

By Mădălina Moldovan