Legal papers are documents regarding some sort of contractual relationship or some other rights. They are legal instruments, official documents, or some other type of important document. Usually, these documents concern authority, identity, legal status, ownership, or some other type of evidence for some sort of obligations. Examples of these documents include birth certificates, contracts, deeds, leases, titles, wills, etc. During a trial or in preparation of a trial, documents such as a complaint or a summons can also be referred to as legal papers. Additionally, in a general sense, a legal paper can refer to a simple document that is about any legal matter, such as a document written by a lawyer. It can also be a legally valid document. The general effects of these documents are that they affect and concern the legal rights of the people involved.
Specific types of legal papers include but are not limited to articles of incorporation, derivative instruments, negotiable instruments, passports, ship’s papers, manifest, debenture, power of attorney, letters of administration, letters testamentary, working papers, enactment, bills, legal briefs, testaments, assignments, conveyances, income tax returns, licenses, letters of patent, judgements, acquittances, judicial writ, affidavits, articles of impeachment, certificates, etc.
[Last updated in June of 2020 by the Wex Definitions Team]