Capitalis.L

Lat. [from caput, head or chief.] In old English law. Chief, principal; at the head, A term applied to persons, places, judicial proceedings, and some kinas of property. Capitalis plegius; a chief pledge; a head borough. Towns, PI. 36. Capitalis baro, (q. v.^; chief baron. Capitalis justitiarius, (q. V.); chief justiciary or justice. Capitalis terra; a head-land. A piece of land lying at the head of other land. See Forera. Capitale messuagium; a chief messuage. Bract, fol. 76 b. 96. Capitale placitum; a principal plea. Bract, fol. 366. See Dig, 60. 16. 103. Capitalis redditus; a chief rent, (q. v.) CxprrALis Baro. L. Lat. Chief baron. Capitalis baro scaccarii domini regis; chief baron of the exchequer. Towns, PL 211. Capitalis Justitiarius. L. Lat. Chief justiciar or justiciary; chief justice. Capitalis (or summus) justitiarius totius AnglicB; chief justice of all England. The title of the presiding justice in the court of Aula Regis. 3 Bl. Com, 38. 1 Beeves* Hist, Eng, Law, 48. This title ceased in the fifty second year of Henry III. 2 Id, 91. Capitalis justitiarius ad plaeita coram rege tenenda; chief justice for holding pleas before the king. The title of the chief justice of the Kang's Bench, first assumed in the latter part of the reign of Henry III. 2 Beeves' Hist, E. L, 91. 286. Capitalis justitiarius band, or de banco; chief justice of the bench. The title of the chief justice of the (now) Court of Common Pleas, first mentioned in the first year of Edward I. 2 Beeves Hist, E, L, uh, sup. Crabb's Hist. E. Law, 146. See Justiciar, Chief Justiciar. The title capitalis seems to have originally been confined to the justices of the Aula Begis, and the Bancus, Bract, fol. 108, 108 b.