Treatment scope
The portion of a cited case that a later decision's treatment actually reaches: the entire case, a specific holding, a factual application, or dicta.
First used in Case Treatment Classification Guide
Scope is one of three dimensions the Case Treatment Classification Guide assigns to every classification, alongside severity (how much the treatment damages or supports the cited authority) and mechanism (the process through which it operates, such as appellate reversal, legislative supersession or doctrinal shift).
Scope exists because classifications track holdings, not whole cases. One opinion can overrule one holding of an earlier case, distinguish a second, and follow a third, and a label on the whole case would misreport at least two of them. Scope also enforces the line between holding and dicta: dicta cannot be overruled in the strict sense.
The guide's governing rule for doubtful cases runs in one direction: when in doubt, over-flag rather than under-flag.