Ipso facto, ipso iure, ipsissimis verbis

The Latin pronoun ipse (variously translatable as ‘himself’, ‘herself’, ‘itself’, ‘by oneself’, ‘the very one’, etc.) forms part of a number of phrases sometimes used by English speakers, mostly in legal or academic contexts.

Ipso facto means ‘by that very fact or act’ - ipso is the ablative singular neuter of ipse, in agreement with facto. The phrase may be used when one wishes to say that one fact or action is a direct consequence of, or follows directly from, another fact or action, as in ‘The stolen goods were found in his house – ipso facto he is in receipt of stolen goods’.

Ipso jure means ’by the law itself’ - again, ipso is the ablative singular neuter of ipse, in agreement with iure. The phrase may be used when one wishes to say that one legal relation is a necessary consequence of another legal relation or that a change in one legal relation implies a change in another legal relation, e.g., if a married couple who have a ‘tenancy by the entirety’ on a property divorce, their ‘tenancy by the entirety’ is necessarily, ipso iure, dissolved and replaced by a different form of tenancy.

Ipsissima verba (‘the very words’) and ipsissimis verbis (‘with the very words’) are used, when reporting what someone said, to indicate that one is using the very words that were uttered, not merely paraphrasing or conveying the sense of what was said.(Ipsissimus – to use the masculine singular – has the form of a superlative adjective formed from ipse.) The difference between the two expressions lies in their different cases: ipsissima verba is a nominative or accusative, whereas ipsissimis verbis is an ablative. In strictness, then, one should choose the alternative that is grammatically appropriate to the context. For example, one should say ‘His answer – and I give you his ipsissima verba – was “She is by far the laziest student it has ever been my misfortune to teach”’ – ipsissima verba being the direct object of ‘give’ – but ‘He replied, ipsissimis verbis, “She is by far the laziest student ...”’.- he replied with these very words. It may be doubted, however, whether many of those who use either phrase are sensitive to the distinction between them.

For another phrase of which ipse is a part see Ipse dixit.