|This article is part of the series:| |Legislation and Legal
System of the Catholic Church| |WikiProject Canon Law| A latae
sententiae penalty is one that follows ipso facto or
automatically, by force of the law itself, when a law is
contravened; a penalty that binds a guilty party only after it
has been imposed on the person is known as a ferendae sententiae
(meaning "sentence to be passed") penalty. The Code of Canon
Law, which binds Catholics of the Latin Church, inflicts latae
sententiae censures for certain forbidden actions. The canon law
that binds members of the eastern Catholic Churches (see Code of
Canons of the Eastern Churches) does not include latae
sententiae penalties. Grammatical note  Note that latae
sententiae is an adjectival phrase accompanying a noun, such as
"excommunication". In connection with a verb, the corresponding
adverbial phrase is in ablative absolute form, as in: "He was
excommunicated lata sententia." Penalties in the Code of Canon
Law  The censures that the Code of Canon Law