Definition
In historical legal usage, *faiz* (also rendered *fais*) is a Law French term meaning deeds, facts, or business. It appears in early English legal instruments and pleading records as a term encompassing acts done, matters transacted, or the substance of dealings between parties. The word carried a broad practical sense — the concrete things done, the facts of a matter, or the business at hand — rather than any narrow technical signification.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering *faiz* in medieval or early modern English legal records should treat it as a contextual term whose meaning shifts with surrounding language. In deed recitals, it typically signals the facts or acts underlying a transaction. In pleading contexts, it can approximate the modern notion of "the matter" or "the business in question." Because the term is Law French rather than Latin, it appears most frequently in materials from roughly the thirteenth through seventeenth centuries, when Law French remained the operative language of English common law pleading and conveyancing.
The principal trap in historical sources is confusing *faiz* with closely related Law French terms such as *fait* (deed, in the sense of a sealed instrument) or *faisans* (doing, performing). The overlap is substantial — *faiz* is effectively the plural or generalized form of the same root — but the specific legal context determines whether the word is pointing to a deed as a formal instrument, to acts or conduct, or simply to "the business of the matter." Glossing over this distinction can distort the meaning of a pleading passage or conveyancing recital.
The term is rare enough in secondary legal literature that researchers should not expect to find it indexed in modern treatises. Primary source work in plea rolls, year books, or manuscript deed collections is where *faiz* is most likely to surface. Kelham's glossary (cited in Burrill) remains one of the few reference points for this term, and its entry is terse; cross-checking against the surrounding Latin or English text of any document is essential before assigning a fixed translation.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's Law Dictionary transmits only a spare entry: "*L. Fr.* Deeds; facts; business. Kelham." This brevity reflects the term's status as functional Law French vocabulary — workaday rather than doctrinally contested. Burrill follows Kelham in treating *faiz* as covering all three senses (deeds, facts, business) without distinguishing among them, which accurately reflects how the word functioned: as a general-purpose term for the things done or the matters at issue.
No significant divergence among historical dictionaries is apparent, though the historical record is thin. The absence of the term from later legal dictionaries (Bouvier, Black's) suggests it fell out of active use as Law French gave way to English in legal proceedings following the eighteenth century. Historical sources, including Burrill, do not address any technical evolution of the term, because there does not appear to have been one — *faiz* was absorbed into the broader legal vocabulary rather than refined into a term of art.
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Jurisdictional Note
*Faiz* is a term of English legal history with no counterpart in American, Scottish, or civilian legal systems. Researchers working in jurisdictions outside the English common law tradition are unlikely to encounter it.
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