L., ablat, of caput head, occurring in the phrase tenēre in capite to hold (of the king) in chief; whence tenant, tenure in capite, and attrib. uses, as capite-lands, and the treatment of capite in Law Dicts. as ‘The name of a tenure (abolished by Act 12 Chas. II., xxiv.), by which land was held immediately of the King, or of the crown.’
1616. Bullokar, s.v. Capite, a tenure, when a man holdeth lands, immediately of the king as of his crowne.
a. 1626. Bacon, Use Com. Law (1636), 39. If a man be seized of capite lards and soccage, he cannot devise but two parts of the whole.
1634. Sanderson, Serm., II. 291. A single rood of capite-land will bring the whole estate into wardship.
1641. Termes de la Ley, 46. Capite is a Tenure that holdeth immediatly of the King, as of his Crowne.
1755. in Johnson.
