Caput

A head, the head; an individual.

Aestimatio capitis

The value of a head: the worth of a life. In Saxon law, a prescribed sum to be paid for an unlawful taking of another man's life. In modern law, the amount of damages recoverable for causing a death.

Capita.

Heads: bodies; individual persons. Per capita. By heads: according to the individuals. Opposed, per stirpes, by the ancestor. In distributing the personalty of an intestate, the persons entitled thereto are said to take per capita when they claim in their own rights as in equal degree of kindred, and not in right of another — per stirpes. This rule of succession was borrowed from the civil law. The common-law rule was the per stirpes rule.

Caput lupinum

A wolf's head: an outlawed felon — who might be knocked on the head like a wolf.

Caput mortuum

A dead head: a matter of no legal validity; a thing void as to all persons and for all purposes.