NOTAIE IURIS. - These are the abbreviations used in ancient manuscripts of legal works, in which, unlike literary manuscripts, many technical terms were abbreviated for convenience. They constitute a complex system of abbreviation, like that later found in medieval manuscripts (v. ABBREVIATORE).
The table appended here shows some examples grouped according to specific principles of abbreviation: 1) simple truncation indicated by an apostrophe; 2) syllabic truncation with a superimposed stroke; 3) contraction; 4) contraction with a superscript letter; 5) truncation with a transverse oblique stroke; 6) special abbreviations of the letters p, q; 7) signs derived from Tironian notes; 8) particular forms.
The earliest known examples date from the third century; in order to avoid doubts in reading or fraud, they were prohibited in 438 by the Roman Senate in copies of the Codex Theodosianus, and then again by Justinian in 530 and 533. In the sixth century they fell into disuse. The term n. i. is found in the notarum laterculi of the Carolingian era.