A head; the head of a person; the whole person ; the life of a person; one’s personality ; status; civil condition. At common law . A head. Caput comitatis, the head of the county; the sheriff; the king. Spelman. A person; a life. The upper part of a town. Cowell. A castle. Spelman. In the civil law . It signified a person’s civil condition or status, and among the Romans consisted of three component parts or elements,