NOTAE IURIS. - These are the abbreviations used in ancient manuscripts of legal works, in which, unlike literary ones, many technical terms were abbreviated for convenience. They constitute a complex abbreviatory system, like the one that later appeared in medieval manuscripts (v. ABBREVIAZIONI).

The table appended here shows some examples grouped according to certain abbreviatory principles: 1) simple truncation indicated by an apostrophe; 2) syllabic truncation with a line placed above; 3) contraction; 4) contraction with a small letter written above; 5) truncation with a transverse oblique line; 6) special abbreviations of the letters p, q; 7) signs derived from the Tironian notes; 8) particular forms.

The first known examples are from the 3rd century; in order to avoid doubts in reading or fraud, they were prohibited in 438 by the Roman Senate for copies of the Codex Theodosianus, and then again by Justinian in 530 and in 533. In the 6th century they fell into disuse. The term n. i. is found again in the notarum laterculi of the Carolingian era.

Bibliography

BIBL.: L. Schiaparelli, Le n. i. e il sistema delle abbreviature medievali, in Archivio storico italiano, 73 (1915, 1), pp. 280-81.

Giulio Battelli

@incollection{ec8_notaie_iuris, author = {Battelli, Giulio}, title = {Notaie Iuris}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1955}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/notaie-iuris} }

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Notae Iuris

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