IPSO FACTO and IPSO IURE. — These two expressions are equivalent in meaning, and their use is especially found in penal matters: precisely to indicate latae sententiae penalties in an equivalent manner. The synonymy of the two expressions is authoritatively given by the legislator of the CIC (can. 2217, §2).
With these expressions, one intends to convey the perfect coincidence that exists between the transgression of the law and the penalty incurred automatically, without the concurrence of human will. Once the offense is complete in its kind, the penalty necessarily follows, as a vindication of social disturbance. In the sources of canon law, these expressions are frequently found with identical meaning. *Ipso facto* is found in c. 2, *de rebus ecclesiae non alienandis*, III, 9, in VI, together with the expression *eo ipso*; c. 1, *de homicidii*, IV, 4, in VI; c. 1, *de usuris*, V, 5, in VI; c. 3, *de poenis*, V, 8, in Clem. Pius VI also uses it in his constitution *Auctorem fidei*, 28 Aug. 1794, prop. 47, against the Jansenists (cf. Denz.-U., 1547). *Ipso iure* is found in c. 25, X, *de sententiae excommunicationis*, V, 39; c. 37, *de electione et electi potestate*, I, 6 in VI; c. 5, *de poenis*, V, 9, in VI, together with the expression *eo ipso*, which is also found isolated in c. 16, *de electione et electi potestate*, I, 6 in VI; c. 11, *de sententiae excommunicationis, suspensionis et interdicti*, V, 11 in VI. The CIC retains this wording only in cann. 2346, 2365, 2381 n. 1. Other expressions used in canonical sources are *ipso actu*: c. 24, X, *de appellationibus, recusationibus et relationibus*, II, 28 and *ipso suo genere* in c. 26, X, II, 28. In the CIC, the expression *ipso iure* is found several times; *ipso facto* is more commonly used.
Of particular importance, for the topic at hand, is the deprivation of a benefice that can occur *ipso iure* and by a declaratory sentence of the judge. In this case, the penalty is retroactively applied to the day on which the crime was committed, and from that time the offender ceases to be the holder of the benefice.
These expressions are also used by the CIC to indicate a law that immediately invalidates an act or incapacitates a person; cf. cann.: 162, 63; 165; 166; 181, 62; 150; 185; 188; 192; 646; 1068; 1307, 63; 1684; 1679; 2167.