Captation

In French law. Undue Influence; the act of one who succeeds in controlling the will of another, so as to become master of it. It is generally taken in a bad sense. Captation takes place by those demonstrations of attachment and friendship, by those assiduous attentions, by those services and of Rcious little presents, which are usual among friends, and by all those means which ordinarily render us agreeable to others.

In French Law. The act of one who succeeds in controlling the will of another, so as to become master of it It is generally taken in a bad sense. It was formerly applied to the first stage of the hypnotic or mesmeric trance. Captation takes place by those demonstrations of attachment and friendship, by those assiduous attentions, by those services and officious little presents, which are usual among friends, and by all those means which ordinarily render us agreeable to others. When these attentions are unattended by deceit or fraud, they are perfectly fair, and the captation is lawful; but if, under the mask of friendship, fraud is the object, and means are used to deceive the person with whom you are connected, then the captation is fraudulent, and the acts procured by the captator are void. CAPTION (Lat. capere, to take). A taking, or seizing; an arrest. The word is no longer used in this sense. The heading of a legal instrument, in which is shown when, where, and by what authority it was taken, found, or executed. In the English practice, when an inferior court, In obedience to the writ of certiorari, returned an indictment into the king's bench, it was annexed to the caption, then called a schedule, and the caption concluded with stating that "it is presented in manner and form as appears in a certain indictment thereto annexed," and the caption and indictment were returned on separate parchments. 1 Wms. Saund. 309, n. 2. In some of the states, every indictment has a caption attached to it, and returned by the grand Jury as part of their presentment in each particular case; and in this respect a caption differs essentially from that of other tribunals, where the separate indictments are returned without any caption, and the caption Is added by the clerk of the court, as a general caption embracing all the indictments found at the term; Com. v. Stone, 3 Gray (Mass.) 454; Com. v. Edwards, 4 Gray (Mass.) 5; Com. v. Gee, 6 Cush. (Mass.) 174. In Criminal Practice. The object of the caption is to give a formal statement of the and place where it was found; Hall, Int. L. 413; Com. v. Stone, 3 Gray (Mass.) 454; and the jurors by whom it was found; Whart. Cr. PI. § 91. Thus particulars must be set forth with reasonable certainty; U. 8. Prentice, 6 Mc Lean, 66, I State v. Conley, 39 Me. 78; B tate, 20 Ala. 33. It must show that the venire facias was returned and from whence the jury came; Whart. Cr. PL § 91. The caption may be amended in the court in which the indictment was found; U. S. v. l'rentice, 6 Mc Lean GG, Fed. Cas. No. 16,083; Com. v. Ilines, 101 Mass. 33; Brown v. Com., 78 Pa. 122; even in the supreme court; State v. Jones. 9 N. J. L. 357, 17 Am. Dec. 483; State v. Williams, 2 Mc Cord (S. C.) 301. It is no part of the indictment; Com. v. Stone, 3 Gray (Mass.) 454; State v. Wentworth, 37 N. H. 196; People v. Bennett, 37 N. Y. 117, 93 Am. Dec. 551; Noles v. State, 24 Ala. 672. A clerical error in naming the district court of Alaska in the caption of an indictment as "the District Court of the United states," etc., does not vitiate such indictment: Jackson v. U. S., 102 Fed. 473, 42 0. C. A 452. In Depositions. The caption should state the title of the cause, the names of the parties, and at whose instance the depositions are taken; Knight v. Nichols, 34 Me. 208. See Waskern v. Diamond, 1 Hemp. 701, Fed. Cas. No. 17,248; Weeks, Depositions. For some decisions as to the forms and requisites of captions, see State v. Sutton, 5 N. C. 281; State v. Creight, 1 Brev. (S. C.) 169, 2 Am. t Dec. 656; Mitchell v. State, S Yerg. (Tenn.) 514; State v. Brickell, 8 N. C. 354; Kirk v. State, 6 Mo. 4G9; Duncan v. People, 1 Scam. (111.) 456; Beauehamp v. State, 6 Blackf. (Ind.) 299; Thomas v. State, 5 How. (Miss.) 20.

In French law. The act of one who succeeds in controlling the will of another, so as to become master of it; used in an invidious sense.