Home > De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "in fact" or "in practice", commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning "by law") when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without or against a regulation.1 De facto standards
A de facto standard, for instance, is a technical or other standard that is so dominant that everybody seems to follow it like an authorized standard. The de jure standard may be different: one example is the metric unit of kilometre, which is the de jure standard for road distances in the United States, while the mile (=1609.344 m) is the de facto standard.
In addition, there is no law preventing one from adding a twenty-seventh letter such as Þ (thorn) to the alphabet, letters were added centuries ago without much difficulty, but one is prevented from doing so today by the practical difficulties involved. Thus there is a de facto limit on modifications to the alphabet.
A de facto standard is sometimes not formalized and may simply rely on the fact that someone has come up with a good idea that is liked so much that it is copied. Typical creators of de facto standards are individual companies, corporations and consortia.
2 De facto rulers
In politics, a de facto leader of a country or region is one who has assumed authority, whether or not by lawful, constitutional, or otherwise legitimate means, often by deposing a previous leader or undermining the rule of a current one. De facto leaders need not hold a constitutional office, and may exercise power in an informal manner. However, it should be noted that not all dictatorThe term dictator in the modern sense, is a vaguely-defined, connotatively negative word used to describe a totalitarian or authoritarian, or merely autocratic ruler of a country, and the leader of a dictatorship. The term is frequently associated with brs are de facto rulers. For example, Augusto PinochetGeneral Augusto Jose Ramon Pinochet Ugarte (pronounced, SAMPA: /aw"gusto pino"tSEt/; IPA: /aw'gusto/ or /a'gusto/, /pino'εt/ or /pino'ε/) (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. of ChileThe word chile may also refer to Chilli pepper. The Republic of Chile is a republic located on the southwestern coast of South America. It is a long and narrow piece of land between the Andes mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It shares borders with Argenti initially came to power as the chairman of a military junta, but then later amended the nation's constitution and made himself PresidentPresident is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. Etymologically, a "president" is one who presides, who sits in leadership (from Latin prae "before" + sedere "to sit"). Originally, the term usually referr, thus making him the formal and legal ruler of Chile.
Some notable true de facto leaders have been Deng XiaopingDeng Xioping ( Traditional Chinese; Simplified Chinese; Teng Hsiao-p'ing; pronounced "Dung Shyao-ping") ( August 22, 1904 February 19, 1997) was a revolutionary elder in the Communist Party of China (CPC) who served as the " de facto" ruler of the People' of the People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China PRC comprises most of the cultural, historic, and geographic area known as China. Since its founding in 1949, it has been led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is the world's most populous country, with a population and General Manuel Noriega of Panama. Both of these men exercised near-total control over their respective nations for many years, despite not having the legal authority to do so.
De facto has also been used in reference to the role the Governor-General of individual commonwealth countries plays as head of state. While they are constitutionally appointed by the Crown to serve as representative of the monarch, who is the de jure head of state, they actually function independently of the monarch and function as the day to day head of state in each otherwise independent former colony of the British Empire. Governor Generals frequently make state visits and are usually recognised and treated as heads of state in foreign countries, in some cases even if the Queen herself is present.
