(a)  The ratio decidendi consists of that part of the judgment in which the court investigates the law, discusses its development and explains how and why the current rules exist. However the facts of the case play no part in the ratio decidendi.

(b)  The ratio decidendi of a case consists of two elements: the material facts which define the type of situation in which a rule applies together with the particular rule of law which the court has used to resolve the issue raised by those facts. 

(c)   In a typical judgment, a court does not restrict itself to stating the ratio decidendi of the case.  Any part of a judgment that falls outside the ratio decidendi is called ‘obiter dicta’ and does not form part of the precedent set by the case.