Caput

In Civil Law. Status; a person's civil condition. According to the Roman law, three elements concurred to form the status or caput of the citizen, namely, liberty, libertas, citizenship, civitas, and family, familia. At Common Law. A head. Chiefly used in phrases, thus: Caput comitatis, the head of the county; the sheriff; the king. Spelman. Caput anni, the beginning of the year. Cowell. Caput legis, a head of the law; caput villae, the chief man of a town; caput feudi vel terrae, the head or chief lord of lands hald by feudal tenure; caput baroniae, the castle, manor house, or chief seat of a baron. Bracton, fol. 76b. CAPUT LUPINUM (Lat.) Having a wolf's head. Outlaws were anciently said to have caput lupinum, and might be killed by any one who met them. 4 Bl. Comm. 320. In the reign of Edward III. this power was restricted to the sheriff when armed with lawful process, and this power, even, has long since disappeared, the process of outlawry being resorted to merely as a means of compelling an appearance. Co. Litt. 128b; 3 Bl; Comm. 284.

A head; the head of a person; the whole person; the life of a person; one's personality; status; civll condition.

At common law. A head. Caput comitatis, the head of the county; the sheriff; the king. Spelman. A person; a life. The upper part of a town. Cowell. A castle. Spelman.

In the civil law. It signified a person's civil condition or status, and among the Romans consisted of three component parts or elements,—libertas, liberty; civitas, citizenship; and familia, family.

— Capitis æstimatio. In Saxon law. The estimation or value of the head, that is, the price or value of a man's life.

— Capnt anni. The first day of the year.

— Capnt baronise. The castle or chief seat of a baron.

— Capnt jejnnii. The beginning of the Lent fast, i.e., Ash Wednesday.

— Capnt loci. The head or upper part of a place.

— Capnt lnpinnm. In old English law. A wolf's head. An outlawed felon was said to be caput lupinum, and might be knocked on the head, like a wolf.

— Caput mortuum. A dead head; dead; obsolete.

— Caput portus. In old English law. The head of a port. The town to which a port belongs, and which gives the denomination to the port, and is the head of it. Hale de Jure Mar. pt. 2, (de portubus maris,) c. 2.

— Cauut, principium, et finis. The head, beginning, and end. A term applied in English law to the king, as head of parliament. 4 Inst 3 ; 1 Bl. Comm. 188.

I. A bead; a person; the life of a person; a chief; a beginning; a principal.

In old English law. A head; a beginning; a principal division; the head of a person; the head or upper end of a place; a chief or principal place, house or messuage. Caput anni: the first day of the year. Caput baronite: the castle, n)anor house, or chief seat of a baron. Caput comitatus: the chief seat of an earl. Caput lupinuni: a wolf's head; an outlawed felon, so called because he might be killed, or knocked in the head, like a wolf, if he resisted capture, by any one who might meet him. Caput portus: the head of a port,— the town, i. e., to which it belongs and from which it takes its name. Caput, principium et finis: the head, beginning and terrse: the head In feudal law. A head or chief; the king, comitatns: the head or chief of the titles of an earL Caput feudi vel terraj: In the civil law. A person; a personal was requisite to the capacity for civil which there were three kinds, namely:

A head; the head of a person; the whole person; the life of a person; one’s personality; status; civil condition.

At common law. A head. Caput comitatés, the head of the county; the sheriff; the king. Spelman. A person; a life. The upper part of a town. Cowell. A castle. Spelman.

In the civil law. It signilied a person’s civil condition or status, and among the Romans consisted of three component parts or elements,—iiberias, liberty; céivitas, citizenship; and familia, family.

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.

A head; a person. A chief; beginning, principal. Caput anni: the first day of the year. Caput baroniae: a nobleman's mansion-house, which descended to the eldest daughter if no son. Caput lupinum (a wolf-head): outlaw. In capite: in chief; directly of the King or chief lord. Capitis deminutio: loss of condition or rank. Car, fr. For; because. Carentant: forasmuch.

Lat. A head; the' head of a person; the whole person; the life of a person. See ^stimatio capitis.

In the civil law. A person or individual. In capite libero; in, or over a free person. Inst. 1. 13. 1. Omnis noxalis actio caput sequitur; every noxal action follows the person. Id. 4. 8. 6. A certain personal qualification, otherwise called status, which formed the indispensable requisite to the capacity for civil rights among the Romans; and o^ which there were three kinds; freedom, U;itizenship and family. 1 Mackeld. Civ. Law, 129, § 119. Inst. 1. 16. pr. et seq. Dig. 4. 5. 11. See Capitis diminution In feudal law. A head or chief; the king as head of the state. See Caput, principium et finis. To hold lands in capite, was to hold directly from the king, as the sovereign lord; [omnium terrarum capite.) Spelman. Blount, voc. Capite. Caput comitatiU; the head or chief of the county; one of the ancient titles of the earl. Gilb, C. Pleas, 2. Caput feudi vel terra; the chief lord of a fee. Spelman, Feuds, c. 4.

In old English law. A head or upper end of a place. Caput villce; the head of the town. Cowell, Blount. Caput terrce; the head or upper end of a piece of land. A chief or principal place, house or messuage, {capitale messuagium.) Caput comitatus; the chief seat of an earl. Bract, fol. 76 b. Caput baronies; the castle, manor house, or chief seat of a baron. Id. ibid. Id. fol. 93. Blount. Spelman, voc. Baronia, Baro. A head or beginning. Caput anni; the beginning of the year; ^the new year's day. Cowell. Caput, pkincipiuu et finis. Lat. The head, beginning and end. A term applied in English law to the kin^, as head of parliament. 4 Inst. 3. 1 Bl. Com. 188.