Obiter dictum

Casual obiter dicta by men of accepted godliness belonged to a different category from the ecstatic claims to immediate revelation made by obscure persons who thrust themselves into the limelight […].

However, McHugh J noted obiter dicta that if the meaning of the word was construed at that level of abstraction today, ‘it would deny the Parliament of the Commonwealth the power to legislate for same sex marriages[…]’.