Abstract

This study examines the historical and institutional evolution of the concept of document validity in Iran, tracing its transition from religious legitimacy and personal trust in traditional notarial practices to legal and technological credibility in modern registration and digital systems. The research argues that document validity in Iran is not solely a legal construct but a product of a long-standing cultural and social continuity of trust that has transformed over time from personal to institutional and, more recently, to technological forms. In early stages, legitimacy derived from the moral and religious authority of scholars and local notaries, while documents embodied ethical and spiritual trust within society. With the administrative reforms of the Qajar era and the centralization of state power, legitimacy shifted toward bureaucratic structures, marking the rise of institutional trust. The 1931 Registration Act consolidated this transformation, making official documents the basis of legal certainty and archives the institutional memory of trust. In the digital age, a new phase—technological trust—has emerged, transferring credibility from human intermediaries to electronic systems. Yet the moral and cultural foundation of trust remains essential. Employing a descriptive–analytical method grounded in historical, jurisprudential, and sociological approaches, this study demonstrates that the evolution of document validity in Iran reflects an enduring link between legitimacy, trust, and institutional memory—one that connects the traditional notarial register to the modern digital platform.
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