What is ratio decidendi?

• A. The facts of the case
• B. The holding or the principle of law on which a case is decided
• C. The procedural steps in a case
• D. The dissenting opinion

Answer: (B)

Ratio decidendi is the legal rule or principle of law that a court’s decision rests on. It’s the reasoning the judge uses to reach the outcome and the part of the decision that future courts must apply to similar cases under stare decisis. The facts set up what happened, and the holding is the court’s decision itself, but the ratio decidendi is the binding rule that explains why that decision is correct. Dissenting opinions are the views of judges who disagree and aren’t binding, and procedural steps describe how the case proceeded rather than the legal rule it establishes. So the best description is the holding or the principle of law on which the case is decided.