CAPUT

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 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,Ubertas, liberty; civitas, citizenship; and familia, family. Capitis sestimatio. 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 baroniae. The castle or chief seat of a baron. Capnt jejnnii. The beginning of the Lent fast, ?. «., 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. Capnt mortmun. A dead head; dead; obsolete. Capnt portns. In old Etaglish 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 nucvris,) c. 2. Cannt, prin-«ipinm, et finis. The head, beginning, and «nd. A term applied in English law to the king, as head of parliament. 4 Inst. 3; 1 Bl. Conun. 188.