Holding (law)

A holding is a court's determination of a matter of law based on the issue presented in the particular case. It can be summed up as this: under this law, with these facts, this is the result. A holding is the same as a decision made by the judge, but the word decision can also refer to the judge's entire opinion, which contains, for example, a discussion of facts, issues and law as well as the holding. The holding is the legal principle to be drawn from the opinion, or decision, of the court, and so it is narrower than the opinion as a whole.