An affidavit is a written statement of facts, made under oath or affirmation before a person authorized to administer oaths (a notary public, judge, or other competent officer), and signed by the person making it (the affiant), that serves as evidence in legal or official proceedings.
Parameters: (1) The statement must be in writing — oral declarations are not affidavits. (2) It must assert facts, not opinions, conclusions, or legal arguments. (3) It must be sworn under oath or affirmed — the affiant must declare that the contents are true to the best of their knowledge, under penalty of perjury. (4) It must be executed before an authorized officer who administers the oath and verifies the affiant's identity. (5) It must be signed by the affiant and countersigned by the authorized officer.
An affidavit persists through notarized documentation stored in court filing systems, legal record archives, and the institutional memory of the legal system. Its evidentiary force derives from the threat of perjury and the procedural rules of the jurisdiction in which it is filed.
[formal: affidavit | substrate: behavior | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]