paper

paper n 1 Paper, instrument, document all mean a writing (often typed, sometimes printed) that is of value to its owner or to others who come after him as a source of information or proof of a right, contention, or claim.

Paper is the most general term, applicable to such writing (as a letter, deed, certificate, or writ) filed away for future use or reference

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state papers

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a peculiar difficulty I have experienced in dealing with Lord Macaulay's private papers—G. O. Trevelyan

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it was not until I was forty that my father put into my hands a few old family papers which furnished clues to an investigation of my more remote ancestry— Ellis

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Instrument is a legal term applicable to a paper (as a deed, a writ, a will, or a contract) that is made and executed according to the terms of the law, as concrete evidence of some legally defined action (as a transfer of property, the enforcement of a judgment, one's decisions as to who shall inherit one's property, or the terms of an agreement)

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set up a confederacy based upon a written instrument— Nevins

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Document (see also DOCUMENT 1) applies to a legal instrument or to an original or authentic copy of a letter, a record, or other paper that may be used as a source of information, evidence, or proof

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her letters I sent back except those of the quarreling correspondence, and those, being documents, are placed in the hands of a third person— Byron

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the Declaration of Independence stands out as one of the vital documents of history— Canfield & Wildery

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2 article, *essay, theme, composition