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DICTIONAKY. 223 DICTUM. three in an unfinished state. The first was pub- lislitil at l-eipzig in 1S54. The object of this work is to give the vocabulary of the literary language from the beginning of the sixteenth cen- tury. The scope of the work includes the history and etyniolog)- of words and the illustration by quotations of their history and meaning. Since the death of Wilhelm (1859) and Jacob Grimm (1803), other distinguished scholars of Germany have carried on the work. Schade, Altdeuisches WOrlerbttch (Halle, 1872-82); Kluge, £fymo- lof/isvhes ^Y^rterbuch dcr deuischcn .S/""*" (Strassburg, 6th ed. 189!)) : Wiegand, Deutschcs Hortcroucli (Cressen. 1873) ; Sanders, Ergiiii- zungs-M'ortcrbuch der deiitschen ^praclie (Ber- lin. 1S85) : Diefenbach and Wiilcker. Unch- und yifderdeutsches Worterbitch dcr mitllercn u>id )ieuercn Zcit (Basel, 1885). French — The great French dictionaiy is Diclioiiiiaiie dc hi laiigue francaise. "All the words found in the diction- ary of the French Academy and all the terms nsoil in science, art, and ordinary life." By il. P. E. Littre. This dictionan,- was published in Paris. 1803-72, with a supplement. 1878-82; La- rousse. Grand Dictionnaire unirersel du XlXtme siecU- (15 vols.. Paris, 1866-76). In a new edi- tion imder title: youveutt Larousse iUiistre (Paris, 1901-02). This is a mine of informa- tion, but should perhaps be classed with en- eyclopa-dias. It contains many articles of a liiographical, historical, and geographical char- .Tcter in addition to the common words, and many proper names; Bescherelle, youceau Dictionnaire national, ou dictionnaire universel de la langue franraise (Paris, 1887) : Godefroy, Dictionnaire de I'ancienne langue francaise et de tons ses dia- lertes du IXcme au XVeme siecle (Paris. 1881-85. Complement, 1895) : Hatzfeld-Darmesteter-Thom- as. Dictionnaire general (fc la langue francaise (2 vols., Paris, 1890-19001. Spanish— Bareia, Primer diecionario general etimologico dc la lengua esijanola (Madrid, 1881-83) ; Cuesta, Die- cionario enciclopcdico de la lengua espanola (2 vols., Madrid, 1872). Castilian — Cuervo, Die- cionario de construccion y regimen de la lengua castrllana (to letter D; Madrid, 1866-94) ; Mon- lau. Diecionario etimologico dc la lengua castel- lana (Madrid, 1881) ; Donadiii y Puignau. Die- cionario de la lengua eastellana (4 vols., Barce- lona. 1890-95) : Serano. Diecionario unirersal de la lengua eastellana (Aladrid, 1870-81). Cata- lan — Lobernia y EsteUer, Diccionari de la llen- gua catnlana (2 vols., Barcelona. last edition undated). Portuguese — Caldas Aulete, Diecio- nario content porunco da lingua portuguexa (Lis- lion, 1881) ; ^lichaelis. Xew Dictionary of the Portuguese and English Languages (2 vols., Leipzig, 1893). Italian — Fanfani, Voea- lulario dclla lingua parlata italiana (Flor- ence. 1881); Tommaseo and Bellini. Dizionario dflla lingua italiana (4 vols., Turin, 1861-79); Patrocchi, yovo Dizionario unirrrsalc drlla lin- gua italiana (2 vols.. Milan. 1894). Provencal — Mi-tral, Dictionnaire Prorene,al-Frani;nis (Paris, 18S6). Sardinian — Spano, Voeabulario Sardo- llatinno. llaliano-Sardo (Cagliari, 1851). Ice- landic — Oleasby and Vigfusson, An Icelandic- English Dictionary (Oxford. 1874). Danish — Kalkar. Ordhog til dct aldre Danske f^prog (Copenhagen, incomplete). Dutch — Dale, (iroot Woordcnboek der y rderlandsche tanl (4th ed. Oravcnhage, 1 885-99, 9-N') ; Franck. Etipnolo- gische Woordcnboelc dcr yederlandsche taal (Gravenhage, 1884-92); Calisch, .Ycio Complete Dictionary of the English and Dutch Languages (2 vols., SielCampagne, 1875). Gothic — Balg, A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Lan- guage (.Mayville, Wis., 1887-89). Welsh— Evans, Dictionary of the ^yelsh Language (Carmathen, 1887, incomplete). Irish — Foley, English-Irish Dictionary (Dublin, 1855). Slavonic — Miklo- sich. Etymologisches WOrterbueh dcr slavischen Sprachen (Vienna, 1880). Russian — Dahl, Rus- sian Dictionary (iloscow, 1802-06-73). Polish — Rykaczewski, Complete Polish Dictionary (Ber- lin, 1860). G.vpsy — Swart and Crofton, Dic- tionary of Gypsy (London, 1875). Turkish — Redhouse, Turkish Dictionary, English-Turkish and Turkish-English (London, 1880); Zenker, Turkish - arahisch - pcrsisches Banduiirterbuch (Leipzig, 1806-76). Arabic — Arabic - French : Belot, Vocabulaire arabe-francais a I'usage des eludiants (4th ed. Beirout, 1896) ; Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon (London, 1803-77) ; Stein- gass, Arabic-English Dictionary (London, 1884) ; Newman, Dictionary of Modern Arabic (London, 1.S71). Chinese — Chinese-Latin: Dietionariunt Linguw Sinicce Latinum — founded on the work of C. L. J. de Guignes (Ho Kien Fou, 1877) ; Pemv, Dictionnaire franfais-lat in-chinois (Paris, 1869). DICTUM (Lat., a saying, utterance, response of an oracle), sometimes called obiter dictuin, i.e. an opinion pronounced 'by tlie way.' In legal parlance, an unautlioritative e|)ression of opin- ion on a point of law uttered by a judge in a judicial proceeding. In a legal system based, as is that of England and America, largel.v upon precedent, only so much of a judicial opinion as is directly concerned with the decision of the case in hand has commanding authoritv. This is due to the fact that the courts have no power to decide cases not before them for adjudication. The principle of stare decisis, that is. of abiding by a rule once settled by a formal decision, in- vests such a decision with the force of law. and makes it a binding authority upon the courts in similar cases. But a decision upon a collateral point, or upon a state of facts not before the court for its determination, has no such binding force. It is a mere pronouncement, or expression of opinion, which derives its authority solely from the learning and personal weight of thg judge declaring it. It is usual, therefore, to distinguish between the 'law of a case' and the dicta, or judicial opinions expressed in it, which, however important and influential they may be. have not the force of law. This process of 'sifting* the law from the dicta of a judicial opinion is one of the chief, as it is one of the most difficult, functions of the lawyer and the judge. It is not to 1k^ inferred, however, that judicial dicta are cntirelv without legal authority. The opinions of eminent and learned judges have the same weight witl> the courts as that which at- taches to the disinterested opinions of great law- yers and legal writers, and are classified as hav- ing 'persuasive' as distinguished from 'impera- tive' authority. It is often desirable and some- times necessary to resort to such opinions as an aid to the formation of a sound though inde- p'-ndent jtidgment ipon a question of law, and many cases have been decided and many impor-