from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Recaption \Re*cap"tion\ (r[-e]*k[a^]p"sh[u^]n), n. (Law)
The act of retaking, as of one who has escaped after arrest;
reprisal; the retaking of one's own goods, chattels, wife, or
children, without force or violence, from one who has taken
them and who wrongfully detains them. --Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
{Writ of recaption} (Law), a writ to recover damages for him
whose goods, being distrained for rent or service, are
distrained again for the same cause. --Wharton.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
WRIT OF RECAPTION, practice. This writ lies where, pending an action of
replevin, the same distrainor takes, for the same supposed cause, the cattle
or goods of the same distrainee. See F. N. B. 169.
2. This writ is nearly obsolete, as trespass, which is found to be a
preferable remedy, lies for the second taking; and, as the defendant cannot
justify, the plaintiff must necessarily recover damages proportioned to the
injury.