Brokers of Public Trust: Notaries in Early Modern Rome

• Glossary
• Chapter
• Johns Hopkins University Press
• pp. 315-318
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GLOSSARY

actuary: Notary serving in a judicial capacity in a civil tribunal

Apostolic Camera (Reverenda Camera Apostolica): Papal administrative organ responsible for the temporal government of the Papal States, especially its financial aspects

archiviatione: After 1625 a symbol placed on a notarial document to indicate that the required copy had been made and submitted to the Archivio Urbano with payment of fee

ars notariae: Medieval genre of instructions for preparing notarial documents

articuli: Plaintiff’s questions for witnesses

auditor of the Camera: Prelate-judge who headed the most important papal civil tribunal in Rome

avvisi: Handwritten newssheets that functioned as a periodical press before the appearance of printed newspapers

bastardello: A term for the material support of the matrice (loose sheet or booklet)

business acts (atti negozianti): Notarial instruments for private clients, contracts

cartalare: To place numbers on recto of sheets of paper sequentially

cedola: A document functioning as a form of money, like a check or banknote

censo: Annuities backed by real estate

ceterare: To abbreviate (as in the use of “etcetera”)

chirograph (papal): Letter with autograph signature of the pope

citatio: Court summons

clausulae caeteratae: Standard clauses in a notarial instrument that were normally abbreviated

clausulae consuetae: The clauses customarily included in a notarial instrument of a specified type

collaterale: Civil judge of the Capitoline tribunal. After 1580 there were two, known as the “first collaterale” and the “second collaterale.”

compagnia d’ufficio: See società d’ufficio.

Curia: A general term for the papal administrative staff responsible for the ecclesiastical and temporal needs of the Catholic Church

curia: A court of law or tribunal

decano: The most senior member of a corporate body

decreto: Judicial order or decree

donatio: Legal action of making a gift of something

extend: To fill out all the abbreviations in a notarial transaction (Lat. complere)

extractus (plur. extracta): Copy of all the written evidence submitted and actions taken in a court case where the value of property in question is between twenty-five and two hundred scudi

falsum: The Roman crime of falsification, including but not limited to forgery

fede: General term for document in early modern Italy; specific meaning must be established by local usage. In Rome it was usually a signed copy that was not “published” by a notary; used both for business instruments and warrants (mandata).

fideicommessa: Legal mechanisms restricting alienation of estates; entail

fides: Trust, credibility

filze: Loose sheets stitched together in bunches using a string equipped with a metal point

fondo: Archival series

giovani: Literally “young men.” The term designates young to middle-aged male employees in workshops and other enterprises. In notarial offices, giovani, unlike sostituti, were not certified notaries and could neither rogate business acts nor write judicial acts.

governor: Rome’s ecclesiastical chief magistrate with civil and criminal jurisdiction over all Romans, lay and clerical (except those connected to the papal Curia)

imbreviatura: Valid but abbreviated form of a notarial act (also abbreviatura)

indice: Table of contents (also called rubricella) of a notarial protocol

instrument (Lat. instrumentum): General term referring to most types of notarial documents except wills

interrogatoria: Defendant’s questions for witnesses

invacabile: Office that could be transferred by its owner via sale or bequest (also non vacabile)

ius commune: The legal system of continental Europe from c. 1200 to 1700

judicial acts (atti giudiziari): Court orders or records of various sorts written by notaries

liber accomodatorum: Volume in a notarial office listing documents that have been loaned to other offices or courts for use in court cases

liber expeditionum: Volume recording the judicial acts expedited by a notarial office

liber receptorum: Volume recording daily income of a notarial office (also called liber memorialium)

libro delle spedizioni: See liber expeditionum.

mandatario (Lat. mandatarius): Process server

mandato (Lat. mandatum): Warrant authorizing an officer of the court to take a designated action, such as a seizure, search, or arrest

mandato di procura: A power of attorney

manuale: Log of all the judicial business conducted by a notary for his judge or in his office

massa: Periodic deposits into a common fund required of a given group of venal officeholders

matrice (Lat. matrix): Notary’s rough draft of a legal transaction

mensario: Official of a venal college of notaries in seventeenth-century Rome

monti: Public bonds (individual units were luoghi di monti)

mundum: Fully extended notarial instrument (with minimal use of abbreviations)

neofiti: Converts to Christianity

non vacabile: See invacabile.

notai AC: Notaries of the auditor of the Camera

notaries of the Camera: Secretaries and chancellors of the Reverenda Camera Apostolica

notarii curiae capitolinae: Notaries attached to the tribunal of the senator; after 1586 numbering thirty

notarii urbis: Notaries of the city of Rome (pre-1586)

novizio: Holder of an entry-level position in a notarial office, usually lasting one year

obligatio: A specific type of notarial instrument binding someone to do something; often used in loan transactions

procura: Power of attorney. See also mandato di procura.

procuratori: Procurators, attorneys; lower-level legal professionals corresponding to solicitors in the British system where there is a distinction between solicitors who do the legal paperwork on cases and barristers who make the arguments. The equivalent distinction in Rome was between procuratori and avvocati.

protocol (Lat. protocollum): In Rome a volume of instruments of a particular notary, normally arranged chronologically (called a cartularium in Genoa)

public copy: A document prepared by a notary in public form, that is, with the formalities of date, place, names of witnesses, and his style of signature

publish: In notarial contexts to render a document in public form

quinterno: Quarto-sized notebook; material units from which Roman protocol was composed

registrum (plur. registra): Copy of the record file for a single case, including evidence submitted, legal opinions solicited, and entries copied from the official court manuale for cases involving two hundred scudi or more

repertorij: Originally lists of instruments in a given protocol indicating contracting parties, type of contract, and date, which were kept separately from the protocol. Later catalogs to the holdings of a notarial archive; in the Archivio Urbano organized by client’s name (usually baptismal name)

rione: One of fourteen urban districts into which the city of Rome was divided

rogate: Technical term for the notary’s action in certifying the truth of a given transaction in writing

Rota: Highest civil court of appeal in the Papal States

rubricella: Table of contents (also called an indice)

scriptura privata: Documents by individuals in their private or unofficial capacity

scriptura publica: Documents by writers who hold some kind of public authority

senator: Chief magistrate judging civil and criminal cases for lay Romans

signum: Individual notary’s identifying symbol; stamped on notarial acts in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Rome

simple copy: In contrast to a public instrument, lacked the formalities of the date and place of the transaction, the names of witnesses and notary and the notary’s signature; explicitly prohibited from serving as judicial evidence

società d’ufficio: A way to borrow small amounts of money in Rome that took the form of a purchase of shares in an office (also called compagnia d’ufficio)

società in accomandita: A new type of financial transaction in late sixteenth-century Italy in which the partners carry unequal amounts of risk

sostituto: An officially certified notary who acts in the name of another notary. Used in early modern Rome to refer to employees in the offices of public notaries who were entitled to rogate acts but not to publish them.

style: The way the notary signs a public copy

termini: Judicial deadlines, as established by the type of civil action sought

testes: Witness depositions

transunto (Lat. transumptum): Legal copy of a notarial instrument made from the protocol of a deceased notary

vacabile: Office that reverted to its originating authority after the death or resignation of its owner. See also invacabile.

vicario: Cardinal delegated to oversee the religious life of the diocese of Rome who headed his own tribunal

visura: Fee charged by notaries for consulting documents