Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CAP'TION, n.² [L. captio, capio.]

In law, a certificate, stating the time and place of executing a commission in chancery, or of taking a deposition, or of the finding of an indictment, and the court or authority before which such act was performed, and such other particulars as are necessary to render it legal and valid. A caption may be placed at the head or foot of a certificate, or on the back of an indictment. The word caption signifies a taking, but it includes the particulars above mentioned. The use of the word in any other than a technical sense, is not considered to be well authorized.