ipso facto

Ipso facto says that a consequence follows automatically from a fact, without any further act or order. A rule may provide that a member who is convicted ipso facto ceases to hold office; a contract term may provide that the agreement terminates ipso facto on insolvency (an “ipso facto clause”).

Courts often use the phrase in the negative: delay in lodging an FIR does not ipso facto make the prosecution case false; relationship of a witness does not ipso facto make him unreliable. It is related to ipso jure, “by operation of law”. In answers, use it only where the automatic consequence is clear; otherwise “by itself” is plainer.

Example

A delay of a day in lodging the FIR does not ipso facto render the prosecution story doubtful.

See also

per se · ab initio · void ab initio

Read more in the study notes

• Continental shelf, high seas and the deep seabed (Public International Law)
• The International Court of Justice, ECOSOC, the Trusteeship Council and the Secretariat (Public International Law)