Legal Term: CAPTION

Definition: practice. That part of a legal instrument, as a "Commission, indictment, &c., which shows where, when, and by what authority it was taken, found or executed. As to the forms and requisites of captions, see 1 Murph. 281; 8 Yerg. 514; 4 Iredell, 113; 6 Miss,. 469; 1 Scam. 456; 5 How. Mis. 20; 6 Blackf. 299; 1 Hawks, 354; 1 Brev. 169. 2. In the English practice, when an in ferior court in obedience to the writ of certiorari, returns an indictment into the K. B. , it is annexed to the caption, then called a schedule, and the caption concludes with stating, that " it is presented in manner and form as appears in a certain indictment thereto annexed, " and the caption and indictment are returned on separate parch ments. 1 Saund. 309, n. 2. Vide Dane"s Ab. Index, h. t. 3. Caption is another name for arrest. CAPTIVE. By this term is understood one who has been taken; it is usually applied to prisoners of war. (q.v.) Although he bas lost his liberty, a captive does not by his captivity lose his civil rights.

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