'RATIO DECIDENDI' of a case is:

1. RATIO DECIDENDI (Latin: 'reason for deciding') is the RULE OF LAW that the court applied in arriving at its decision. 2. It is the BINDING PART of a precedent under the doctrine of stare decisis. 3. The ratio is the proposition WITHOUT WHICH the decision could not stand. 4. Distinguished from OBITER DICTA (Latin: 'said in passing') — observations by judges on points not necessary to the decision; obiter is PERSUASIVE only, not binding. 5. IDENTIFYING the ratio requires interpretation: 6. (i) The MATERIAL FACTS that the court considered relevant; 7. (ii) The LEGAL PRINCIPLE applied to those facts; 8. (iii) The RESULT. 9. Goodhart's test, Wambaugh's inversion test help identify ratio. 10. Hence option B is correct. _Source: Legal Research Methodology + Jurisprudence — Ratio decidendi doctrine_