A tabellio was a Roman officer who reduced to writing and into proper form, agreements, contracts, wills, and other instruments, and witnessed their execution. They are distinguished from notaries in that they had judicial jurisdiction in some cases, and from their judgments could not be appealed. Notaries were aides of the tabelliones, they took notes on the agreements of the parties, but these contracts were not binding until they were written in extenso, which was done by the tabelliones.
