CAPH'TOR. The original home of the Phil istines. Dent. ii. 23, ..Amos ix. 7, who are there fore called Caphtorim. Gen. x. 14, Dent. ii. 23. Crete is probably meant. Its importance during the Myeenann Age and its close- relations to Egypt. as revealed by recent diseoveries, render the identifieation natural. The Cherethites (q.v.) are so constantly coupled With the Phil istines, or the Pelethites, that they would seem to form a branch of the same family: and there is no good reason to doubt that the Cheretites are Cretans. The Zeus Cretagimes in Gaza points to a connection of the Philistines with Crete. That Caphtor is the same as the Egyptian Eaft = ('ilieia) is by no means certain. Even if the original text in Jer. xlvii. 4 did not have Caphtor, and the word for 'island* is understood to mean .Alediterranean coast lands, there is noth ing in this passage to forbid the identification. CA'PIAS Lat., you may take, or seize, from caperc, to take). A writ in a civil action order ing the officer to whom it is intrusted to seize and take into custody the person of the de fendant. Strictly speaking, a capius issues only in a common-law proceeding, as distinguished from one in equity. The abolition of imprison ment for debt has greatly diminished the of cases in which the defendant may be arrested in a civil action, but the right of an arrest in al most all, if not all, of the States still exists where a willful and malicious injury or a fraudulent concealment of property, or proposed evasion of the jurisdiction of the court, is alleged. Usually all affidavit must be presented on which to base the application for a. writ of eapias. of the sev
eral kinds of this writ the most common are (1) The capia.s ad respondcndum, which directs the sheriff to arrest the defendant and hold him until a certain day at which he is to be brought before the court. Formerly this writ began every ac tion at law; now the eases in which the arrest may be made are limited and defined by the statutes of the States. When used alone the word caplets nsually refers to this form of writ. (2) ('apices ad satisfaciendum, a writ directing the officer to seize the party to the suit named I this may possibly be a plaintiff, though usually a defendant). and bring his body on a fixed (lay before the court to satisfy a judgment already issued. It will be seen that this was at the end. as the former writ described was at the beginning. of all lawsuits under the common law; though the use of the writ is now much restricted by statutory limitations, it is still a common-law process; it is familiarly known by the abbrevia tion ca. sa. (3) Testatum capias, a supplemen tary or second writ. issued when an ordinary eapias has been placed in the hands of the sheriff and has been returned with the indorsement that the defendant could not he found. In such eases the new writ may be issued after a lapse of time without the introduction of other proof than the producing of the original. None of these writs are common in England or hi the United States at present. See AnitEsr; ATTACHMENT; EXECU TION.