NIH - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

NIHAuthored

The Law Mind • 831 words

Definition

NIH is a Latin abbreviation appearing in legal manuscripts and case reports, functioning as a shorthand for several distinct nihil-root Latin phrases. In historical legal sources, NIH most commonly introduces or signals nihil constructions — phrases built on the Latin nihil or nil, meaning "nothing." The abbreviation is not a standalone term of art but a scribal and typographic convention used in older reported cases, digests, and treatises to compress frequently recurring Latin maxims.

In modern legal research, NIH rarely appears as an abbreviation in formal legal writing. When encountered in historical sources, researchers must identify which nihil phrase is being abbreviated from context.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): NIH is an initialism for "not invented here," referring to a cultural bias against adopting external ideas or technology.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's 1913 does not record NIH as a dictionary entry; it had no established common-language meaning in that period.

Editorial note: The common modern meaning — organizational resistance to external innovation — is entirely unrelated to the historical legal usage. A researcher encountering NIH in a nineteenth-century legal source should not import any modern sense. In contemporary legal writing, NIH as an abbreviation is essentially obsolete and its appearance signals a historical document.

Common Confusion

NIH as an abbreviation in legal sources is most often confused with NHI, nil, or assumed to be a case reporter abbreviation rather than a Latin shorthand. The confusion compounds because the same abbreviation could, depending on scribal practice, collapse any of several nihil maxims. Researchers encountering NIH in early reports should consult the surrounding Latin context before attributing a specific maxim.

Why It Matters in Research

Researchers working in the Law Mind corpus of historical legal materials will encounter NIH almost exclusively in pre-twentieth-century case reports, digests, and Latin-heavy treatises. Several practical traps arise:

First, NIH is not a term of art with a fixed meaning — it is an abbreviation whose content must be reconstructed from context. The most frequently compressed phrases include nihil dicit (he says nothing, relevant to default proceedings), nihil habet (he has nothing, relevant to execution returns), nihil est (there is nothing), and the maxim families recorded in Burrill, such as nihil dictum quod non dictum prius and nihil est magis rationi consentaneum.

Second, corpus searches for NIH will surface false positives from modern usage (not invented here, National Institutes of Health) and miss relevant historical instances where the full nihil phrase is spelled out. Researchers should run parallel searches on nihil, nil, and the specific phrase suspected to be at issue.

Third, the Latin maxims compressed under NIH carry genuine substantive weight. Nihil dicit defaults, for example, have procedural consequences that vary by jurisdiction and era. Treating NIH as merely decorative Latin risks missing operative procedural holdings in older cases.

Fourth, Law Mind's historical dictionary sources use NIH inconsistently. Burrill records the maxims in full; other sources may use the abbreviation without expansion. When Burrill's full entry is available, it should be treated as the authoritative expansion of any NIH abbreviation found in a contemporaneous source.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill's Law Dictionary does not treat NIH as a standalone entry but records the underlying nihil maxims at length. The entries reproduced in the source material illustrate two distinct maxim families:

Nihil dictum quod non dictum prius — "Nothing is said which was not said before" — is characterized by Burrill as applicable where a party repeats former arguments, citing Hardr. 464. This is a maxim of rhetorical and procedural observation rather than a rule of decision, and it appears most often in commentary on oral argument practice.

Nihil est magis rationi consentaneum quam eodem modo quodque dissolvere quo conflatum est — "Nothing is more consonant to reason than that a thing should be dissolved in the same way in which it was made" — is a maxim of contract and obligation law with real substantive bite, governing the formalities required to discharge an obligation relative to the formalities used to create it. Burrill traces this to the Digest (Dig. 50.17.116), which provides a civilian pedigree used in equity arguments.

Burrill's treatment, while comprehensive for its era, does not cross-reference the abbreviation NIH itself. This is consistent with Burrill's practice of organizing entries under the full Latin phrase. Researchers should not expect historical dictionaries to resolve the abbreviation — they must be used as expansion tools once the full phrase is identified.

Jurisdictional Note

The nihil maxims collected under this abbreviation derive from Roman civil law and reached English law primarily through equity and ecclesiastical courts. Their authority in American common law courts was persuasive rather than binding, and their practical weight varied considerably by state and by period.

NIHmain

Burrill's Law Dictionary • 1870

(232) to consent as force and fear. Dig. 50. 17. 116. Nihil dictum quod non dictum prius. Nothing is said which was not said before. Said of a case where former arguments were repeated. Hardr. 464. Nihil est magis rationi consentaneum quam eodem modo quodque dissolvere quo conflatum est. Nothing is more consonant to reason, than that a thing should be dissolved or discharged in the same way in which it was created. Shep. Touch. 323. As that the discharge of a debt or duty created by writing (or deed,) should be by w writing (or deed) also. Id. ibid. See Nihil tam conveniens, &c. Nihil facit error nominis, cum de corpore constat. An error of name works no prejudice, where it is clear as to the body [or subject matter intended.] Dig. 18. 1. 9. 1. This maxim of the civil law has been adopted in the common law, corpus being taken in the sense of a corporate body. 11 Co. 21 a, Dr. Ayray's case. A misnomer in a grant to a corporation does not avoid the grant, though the right name of the corporation be not used, provided the corporation really intended be made apparent. 2 Kent's Com. 292. Sometimes, the maxim is more generally applied, and in place of the word corpore, the words persona or re are used. Shep. Touch. (by Preston,) 236, 247. In the original text of the Digests, corpus is taken in the sense of subject matter. Nihil in lege intolerabilius est [quam] eandem rem diverso jure censeri. Nothing is more intolerable in law, than that the same matter, thing or case, should be subject to different views of law. 4 Co. 93 a, Slade's case. Applied to the difference of opinion entertained by different courts, as to the law of a particular case. Id. ibid. Nihil magis justum est quam quod necessarium est. Nothing is more just than that which is necessary. Dav. R. 12. Branch's Princ. Nihil nequam est præsumendum. Nothing wicked is to be presumed. Wms. 583. 2 P. Nihil perfectum est dum aliquid restat agendum. Nothing is perfect, while any thing remains to be done. 9 Co. 9 b, Dowman's case. the nature of things, it can be paid. Dig. 50. 17. 186. Nihil possumus contra veritatem. We can do nothing against truth. Doct. & Stud. dial. 2, c. 6. Nihil quod est contra rationem est licitum. Nothing that is against reason is lawful. Co. Litt. 97 b. Nihil quod est inconveniens est licitum. Nothing that is inconvenient is lawful. Co. Litt. 66 a, 97 b. A maxim very frequently quoted by Lord Coke, but to be taken in modern law with some qualification. Broom's Max. 84-86, [140.] Nihil tam naturale est, quam co genere quidque dissolvere quo colligatum est. Nothing is so natural as to dissolve a thing by the same kind of means, by which it was bound together. Dig. 50. 17. 35. See Id. 153. This maxim of the civil law is otherwise expressed by Bracton, Nihil tam conveniens est naturali æquitati, quam unumquodque dissolvi co ligamine quo ligatum est, (Nothing is so consonant to natural justice, as that every thing should be dissolved by the same kind of tie with which it is bound;) and applied to the dissolution of the connection of homage by the same mutual consent by which it was created. Bract. fol. 78 b. The maxim in the latter form is constantly quoted by Lord Coke, and has been extensively adopted in the common law. 2 Inst. 359, 360. Every contract or agreement ought to be dissolved by matter of as high a nature as the first deed, or as that which first made it obligatory. 5 Co. 26 a, Countess of Rutland's case. 2 Id. 53 a. 4 Id. 57 b. Shep. Touch. 396. Broom's Max. 407, [681.] Best on Evid. 250, § 206. It does not apply, however, to the dissolution of the contract of partnership. Story on Partn. § 271. Other forms of this maxim occur in the books. Nihil est tam naturale quam quidlibet dissolvi co modo quo ligatur. (Nothing is so natural as that a thing should be dissolved in the same way in which it was created;) contract by contract, deed by deed, record by record. Jenk. Cent. 166, case 20. Quomodo quid constituitur, codem modo dissolvetur. 74, case 40. Id. Nihil tam conveniens est naturali æquitati, quam voluntatem domini volentis rem suam in alium transferre, ratam haberi. Nihil peti potest ante id tempus quo per Nothing is so agreeable to natural equity, rerum naturam persolvi possit. Nothing as that the will or intention of an owner can be demanded before the time when, by desiring to transfer his property to another,

NIHadj

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

Initialism of not invented here.

NIHname

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Initialism of National Institutes of Health.

Explore the full Law Mind legal research platform.

Subscribe Encyclopedia Sign In