Plural of fiant; legal documents that record a fine or agreement made in court, especially in Irish legal history.
From Latin 'fiat' meaning 'let it be done,' used in medieval English legal terminology to describe written records of judicial proceedings that began with 'fiat.'
Medieval lawyers were basically the original document bureaucrats—they literally wrote 'let it be done' at the top of contracts, and that phrase stuck around so long it became the official name for the whole document. It's why we still say 'by fiat' when something happens just because someone in power declares it.
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