In law and government, de jure ( day JOOR-ee, dee -⁠; Latin: de iure "by law") describes practices that are legally recognised, regardless whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legally recognised. The terms are often used to contrast different scenarios: for a colloquial example, "I know that, de jure, this is supposed to be a parking lot, but now that the flood has left four feet of water here, it's a de facto swimming pool". To further explain, even if the signs around the flooded parking lot say "Parking Lot" (the "law" determining it as a parking lot), it is "in fact" a swimming pool (due to the current practical circumstances of it being flooded).