Everything about De-facto totally explained
De facto is a
Latin expression that means "of the fact" or "in practice" but not spelled out by law. It is commonly used in contrast to
de jure (which means "by law") when referring to matters of
law,
governance, or technique (such as
standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without or contrary to a regulation. When discussing a legal situation, de jure designates what the law says, while de facto designates action of what happens in practice.
The term
de facto may also be used when there's no relevant law or standard, but a common practice is well established, although not universal. For example,
English is the most common language in the
United States, but there's no official language. (Some U.S. states have established official languages.)
Examples
Standards
A
de facto standard is a
standard (formal or informal) that has achieved a dominant position, as a
tradition, or by
enforcement, or market dominance. It hasn't necessarily received formal approval by way of a
standardization process, and may not be an
official standard document.
In
social sciences, it's a usual solution for a
coordination problem.
De facto standard is the better
choice into situations in which all parties can realize mutual gains only by making mutually consistent decisions.
National languages
Several de facto
English-speaking countries, including the
United Kingdom and
Australia have no de jure official national language. In
New Zealand, there are three official languages (English, Maori and sign). In the
United States, twenty five
states have declared English an official language, with
Hawaii using
Hawaiian and English as official languages. However, two US states also have de facto second languages:
Spanish in
New Mexico and
French in
Louisiana.
Similarly, in the former
Soviet Union,
Russian was the official language de facto, but not de jure.
Sweden is another example of a country with no language recognized de jure.
Lebanon and
Morocco are two more examples, where in both countries the official language is
Arabic but an additional de facto language is considered to be
French.
Politics
A de facto government is a government wherein all the attributes of sovereignty have, by usurpation, been transferred from those who had been legally invested with them to others, who, sustained by a power above the forms of law, claim to act and do really act in their stead.
In politics, a de facto leader of a country or region is one who has assumed authority, regardless of whether by lawful, constitutional, or legitimate means; very frequently the term is reserved for those whose power is thought by some faction to be held by unlawful, unconstitutional, or otherwise illegitimate 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.
Not all
dictators are de facto rulers. For example,
Augusto Pinochet of
Chile initially came to power as the chairperson of a
military junta, which briefly made him de facto leader of Chile, but then he later amended the nation's constitution and made himself
President, making him the formal and legal ruler of Chile. Similarly,
Saddam Hussein's formal rule of
Iraq is often recorded as beginning in 1979, the year he assumed the
Presidency of Iraq. However, in practice his de facto rule of the nation began at an earlier date, as during his time as
vice president he exercised a great deal of power at the expense of the elderly
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr.
Another example of a de facto ruler is someone who isn't the actual ruler, but exerts great or total influence over the true ruler, which is quite common in monarchies. Some examples of these de facto rulers are
Empress Dowager Cixi of China (for son
Tongzhi and nephew
Guangxu Emperors), Prince
Alexander Menshikov (for his former lover Empress
Catherine I of Russia),
Cardinal Richelieu of France (for
Louis XIII), and Queen
Marie Caroline of Naples and Sicily (for her husband King
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies).
Some notable true de facto leaders have been
Deng Xiaoping of the
People's Republic of China and General
Manuel Noriega of
Panama. Both of these men exercised near-total control over their respective nations for many years, despite not having either legal constitutional office or the legal authority to exercise power. These individuals are today commonly recorded as the "leaders" of their respective nations; recording their legal, correct title wouldn't give an accurate assessment of their power. Terms like
strongman or dictator are often used to refer to de facto rulers of this sort.
The term
de facto head of state is sometimes used to describe the office of a
governor general in the
Commonwealth Realms, since the holder of that office has the same responsibilities in their country as the de jure head of state (the
sovereign) does within the
United Kingdom.
In the
Westminster System of government,
executive authority is often split between a de jure executive authority of a
head of state and a de facto executive authority of a
Prime Minister and
Cabinet who implement executive powers in the name of the de jure executive authority. In the United Kingdom, the
British Sovereign is the de jure executive authority, even though executive decisions are made by the
Prime Minister and his
Cabinet on the Sovereign's behalf, hence the term "
Her Majesty's Government".
The de facto boundaries of a country are defined by the area that its government is actually able to enforce its laws in, and to defend against encroachments by other countries that may also claim the same territory de jure. The
line of control in
Kashmir is an example of a de facto boundary. As well as cases of
border disputes, de facto boundaries may also arise in relatively unpopulated areas when the border was never formally established, or when the agreed border was never surveyed and its exact position is unclear. The same concepts may also apply to a boundary between provinces or other subdivisions of a
federal state.
Similarly, a nation with de facto independence, like
Somaliland, is one that isn't recognized by other nations or by international bodies, even though it has its own government that exercises absolute control over its claimed territory.
Other usages
A de facto
monopoly is a system where many suppliers of a product are allowed, but the market is so completely dominated by one that the others might as well not exist. (Similarly for related terms such as
oligopoly and
monopsony.) This is the type of situation that
antitrust laws are intended to eliminate, when they're used.
A
domestic partner outside
marriage is referred to as a de facto husband or wife by some authorities. In
Australia and
New Zealand,
de facto has become a term for one's domestic partner. It is a legally recognised relationship of a couple living together in Australian law, for example "This is my defacto, Rachel". This is equivalent to the term
common-law husband or wife used in most other
English-speaking countries. However, if the relationship is indeed recognized by law, then it would be de jure, and thus "de facto" is a misnomer.
Countries sometimes receive de facto (informal) recognition from other countries which may lead to de jure (formal) recognition.
References
Further Information
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