capiasn.
/ˈkapɪas/ Law.
A writ or process commanding the officer to take the body of the person named in it, that is, to arrest him; also called writ of capias. The term Capias includes writs of various kinds; capias ad respondendum, to enforce attendance at court; capias ad satisfaciendum, after judgement, to imprison the defendant, until the plaintiff's claim is satisfied; capias utlagatum, to arrest an outlawed person; capias in Withernam, to seize the cattle or goods of any one who has made an unlawful distraint (see withernam n.).
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > process, writ, warrant, or order > [noun] > writ > writs ordering arrest
writ of attachment1431
pluries capias1444
attachment?1448
pluries1465
capias1467
reattachment1528
manucaption1588
general warrant1657
ca. sa.1796
Border-warrant1816
1467 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 390 That no seriaunt take..for servynge of a capias eny thynge but in maner folowynge.
1543 in T. Wright Churchwardens' Accts. Ludlow (1869) 14 Payde for ij capias..vjd.
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Spanish Curat v. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. G4/1 A Capias from my Surgeon, and my Silke man.
1648 W. Prynne Plea for Lords 52 Walter Clerke..was arrested..upon a Capias Utlagatum.
1682 N. Luttrell Diary in Brief Hist. Relation State Affairs (1857) I. 234 If his lordship had not appeared, a capias in Withernam would have gone out, whereon he must have been committed.
1689 E. Hickeringill Speech Without-doors ii 17 Excommunications, Capias's, Fines, and Imprisonments.
1812 W. Combe Tour Dr. Syntax xxv. 239 Near Clifford's-Inn appear'd to stand Of Capiases an ugly band.
1865 Dublin Univ. Mag. 65 563/1 A distinguished general officer..who was just going out to India, and who had been stopped by a capias.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
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n.1467