Ex facie,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for "on the face
f it
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
" is a legal term typically used to note that a document's explicit terms are defective without further investigation. For example, a contract between two parties would be void ''ex facie'' if, under a legal system where it was a binding requirement for validity, the document did not require party A to give
consideration to party B for services rendered.
''Ex facie'' (in this case "out of the face
f the court) can also refer to
contempt of court committed outside of the court, as opposed to contempt ''
in facie'' ("in the face
f the court), which is committed in open court in front of the judge and can be punished immediately.
Latin legal terminology
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