Capias

[Latin, That you take.] The name for several different kinds of writs, or court orders, all of which require an officer to take the defendant into custody.

For example, a capias ad audiendum judicium is a writ that orders the defendant brought back before the court after an appearance in which the person has been found guilty of a misdemeanor. A capias ad satisfaciendum orders the sheriff to take the defendant into custody until a judgment is paid or a discharge is granted on the ground that the defendant is an insolvent debtor. This is a body execution.

---

CAPIAS, practice. This word, the signification of which is "that you take," is applicable to many heads of practice. Several writs and processes, commanding the sheriff to take the person of the defendant, are known by the name of capias. For example: there are writs of capias ad respondendum, writs of capias ad computandum, writs of capias ad satisfaciendum, &c., each especially adapted to the purposes indicated by the words used for its designation. See 3 Bl. Com. 281; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 2794.