Capite

{{Short description|Land tenure in old English law}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} In old English law, a '''capite''' (from Latin ''caput'', head) was a tenure in subinfeudation, by which either person or land was held immediately of the king, or of his crown, either by knight-service or socage.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Report of Cases and Matters of Law, Resolved and Adjudged in the King's Courts in Ireland |editor1-first=John |editor1-last=Davies |year=1762 |publisher=Printed for Sarah Cotter |location=Dublin |url=https://archive.org/details/areportcasesand00davigoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/areportcasesand00davigoog/page/n164 160]}}</ref> A holder of a capite is termed a tenant-in-chief.

Tenures in capite were abolished by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660.

==References== <references/> * {{Cyclopaedia 1728 |title=Capite |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/HistSciTech/HistSciTech-idx?type=turn&entity=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01.p0308&id=HistSciTech.Cyclopaedia01&isize=M |accessdate= |volume=1 |page=154|ref=none}}

Category:Common law Category:English laws