Capers

Vessels of war owned by private persons, and different from ordinary privateers only in size, being smaller.

Beawes, Lex. Merc. 230.

CAPIAS (Lat. capere to take; capias, that you take). A writ directing the sheriff to take the person of the defendant into custody. It is a judicial writ, and issued originally only to enforce compliance with the summons of an original writ, or with some judgment or decree of the court. It was originally issuable as a part of the original process in a suit only in case of injuries committed by force or with fraud, but was much extended by statutes. Being the first word of distinctive significance in the writ, when writs were framed in Latin, it came to denote the whole class of writs by which a defendant's person was to be arrested. It was issuable either by the court of common pleas or king's bench, and bore the seal of the court.