CAPUT (Lat. head).
In Civil Law. Status; a person's civil con dition.
According to the Roman law, three elements con curred to form the status or caput of the citizen, namely, liberty, libertas, citizenship, civitas, and family, familia.
Libertas est naturalis facultas ejus quod cuique facers Tibet, nisi si quid vi aut jure prohibetur. This definition of liberty has been translated by Dr. Cooper, and all the other English translators of the Institutes, as follows: "Freedom, from which we are denominated free, Is the natural power of act ing as we please, unless prevented by force or by the law." This, although it may be a ie certainly not a correct, translation of the text. It, is absurd to say that liberty consists in the power of acting as we think proper, so far as not restrain ed by force; for It is evident that even the slave can do what he chooses, except so far as hia voli tion is controlled by the power exercised over him by his maater. The true meaning of the text ie: "Liberty (from which we are called free) is the power which we derive from nature of acting as we please, except so far as restrained by physical and moral impossibilities." It is obvious that a person Is perfectly free though he cannot reach the moon nor stem the current of the Mississippi ; and it is equally clear that true freedom is not impaired the rule of law not to appropriate the property of another to ourselvea, or the precept of morality to behave with decency and decorum.
Civitaa—the city—reminds us of the celebrated expression, "civis sum fomanua," which struck awe and terror into the most barbarous nations. The citizen alone enjoyed the jus Quiritium, which extended to the family ties, to property, to Inherit ance, to wills, to allenationa, and to engagements generally. In striking contrast with the civic stood the peregrinua hoatia, barbarus. Familia—the fam
ily—conveyed very different ideas in the early pe riod of Roman jurisprudence from what it doea in modern times. Besides the singular organization of the Roman family, explained under the head of pater familias, the members of the family were bound together by religioua rites and sacrifices,— sacra familial.
The loss of one of these elements produced a change of the status, or civil condition; this change might be threefold; the loss of liberty carried with it that of citizenship and family, and was called the maxima capitia deminutio; the loss of citizenship did not destroy liberty, but deprived the party of his family, and was denominated media, capitis de minutio; when there was a change of condition by adoption or abrogation, both liberty and citizenship were preserved, and this produced the minima cap itis deminutio. But the loss or change of the status, whether the great, the less, or the least, was followed by serious consequences: all obligations merely civil were extinguished ; those purely nat ural continued to exist. Gains says, Eas oblige Hence quce naturalem prcestationem habere intel liguntur, pglam eat capitis deminutione non venire, quia civilis ratio naturalia Jura corrumpere non potent. Usufruct was extinguished by the diminu tion of the head: amittitur uaufructus capitis de minutione. D. 3. 6. § 28. It also annulled the tes tament: "Teatamenta jure facto infirmantur, cum is qui fecerit tcatamentum capite deminutus sit." Gains, 2, § 143.
At Common Law. A head.
Caput contitatis (the head of the county). The sheriff ; the king. Spelman, Gloss.
A person; a life. The upper part of a town. Cowell. A castle. Spelman, Gloss.
Caput ann4. The beginning of the year. Cowell.