dictum \DIK-tuhm\, noun:
1. An authoritative statement; a formal pronouncement.
2. Law) A judicial opinion expressed by judges on points that do not necessarily arise in the case, and are not involved in it.

I have taken to heart Francis Bacon's dictum that "truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion".
-- Donald B. Calne, Within Reason: Rationality and Human Behavior