Determining the Rule of a Case

Interesting article by Llewellyn. There are at least two productive ways to read a case:

Strongly: what is the most far-reaching interpretation we could give this case?
Weakly: what is the inescapable minimum doctrine set forth here, that we can't possibly ignore?

There is also some nice material on how to recognize dicta: it's anything that goes beyond the facts of the case in question. Also, distinguishing "welcome" from "unwelcome" precedent: this will condition how we read (e.g. strongly or weakly) the cases we face, and how we urge others to understand them.