Definition
A Latin term meaning "by the head" or "per person." In legal usage, *capitatim* describes any levy, grant, assessment, or distribution calculated individually per person rather than by property, income, or any other variable measure. The term appears most frequently in connection with capitation taxes — charges imposed on each individual simply by reason of their existence or presence, without reference to wealth, occupation, or activity. It also appears in descriptions of per-capita grants or distributions.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Per head."
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): "Of so much per head; as, a capitatim tax; a capitatim grant."
The common and legal meanings are closely aligned here, but context matters. In ordinary usage, "per head" is a simple arithmetic expression (tickets priced per head, meals charged per head). In legal usage, *capitatim* carries constitutional and structural weight: a capitatim tax is a specific form of levy with defined legal character, subject to constitutional limitations in the United States and historically treated as a distinct category of public charge in English and colonial law. The seemingly neutral phrase "per head" understates the legal significance.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering *capitatim* in historical sources — case reporters, colonial statutes, tax records, or equity proceedings — should treat it as a technical term of art, not mere Latin shorthand. Several research traps apply.
First, the term appears in two distinct but related contexts: as a descriptor of how a charge is structured (capitatim assessment) and as a label for a specific type of tax (capitation tax or poll tax). Historical sources sometimes use *capitatim* interchangeably with "poll" or "per capita" without distinguishing the legal form from the arithmetic method. Distinguishing the two is essential when tracing constitutional challenges.
Second, in American legal history, capitation taxes carry constitutional dimension under Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution, which requires direct taxes (including capitation taxes) to be apportioned among states by population. This gives *capitatim* levies a place in the broader debate over what constitutes a "direct tax" — a debate that runs from the founding period through the income tax cases of the late nineteenth century and the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment. Historical sources that treat *capitatim* purely as a Latin gloss miss this constitutional thread entirely.
Third, in non-tax contexts, *capitatim* appears in colonial headright systems, per-capita land grants, and distribution schemes in probate and trust law. The term's meaning is consistent across these uses, but the legal consequences differ sharply. A researcher working on colonial land tenure should not assume that the tax-law authorities are controlling.
Fourth, Burrill's citation to Lord Ellenborough in 4 M. & S. 206 (Maule & Selwyn's King's Bench Reports) situates the term in early nineteenth-century English common law. That citation is useful for establishing the term's judicial pedigree but should not be imported uncritically into American constitutional analysis.
Historical Dictionary Support
The three source dictionaries are in agreement on the core definition: *capitatim* means "by the head" or "severally to each individual." There is no meaningful divergence on the Latin gloss.
Black's 2nd Edition adds the most substantive material by connecting *capitatim* directly to the legal definition of a capitation tax — a levy on the person without reference to property, business, or employment. This is the most useful formulation for legal research because it distinguishes capitation taxes from other flat-rate taxes that might superficially resemble per-capita charges but are anchored to some transactional or property basis.
Burrill's entry is spare but notable for citing Lord Ellenborough, grounding the term in English judicial usage rather than treating it as purely academic Latinity. This supports reading *capitatim* as a term that carried operative legal meaning in common law courts, not merely in civilian or ecclesiastical practice.
All three dictionaries treat *capitatim* as a modifier or structural descriptor rather than a freestanding legal doctrine. None of them addresses the constitutional implications of capitation taxes under American federal law — a significant gap for any researcher working with post-1787 sources.
Jurisdictional Note
In the United States, capitation taxes assessed at the federal level implicate Article I, Section 9's apportionment requirement. At the state level, poll taxes historically took the *capitatim* form and were addressed — and in the electoral context effectively abolished — by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and subsequent judicial interpretation. Researchers working with state tax records from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries will encounter *capitatim* assessments as an ordinary feature of local fiscal practice without constitutional controversy; the federal constitutional dimension is distinct.