R

Recusal, with respect to judicial proceedings is the stepping aside or disqualification of a judicial officer from a case on the ground of personal interest in the matter, bias, prejudice, or conflict of interest, or if he has conducted himself in such a way that he could be regarded as having become, directly or indirectly, a party to the proceedings. (P. 234, paras. C-D).

Ratio decidendi represents the reasoning or principle or ground upon which a case is decided. It means what was decided. It is not something which a party imagines or thinks was decided. The ratio decidendi of a case lays down the principle of law that has the binding force of precedent. It makes good sense that such peripheral expressions, i.e. obiter dicta, should not be allowed to becloud the substance of a court’s judgment.