Head Money Law and Legal Definition
Head money is an amount levied as tax from people who come under a designated class. Head money refers to a poll tax. Head money also refers to a reward or bounty offered by a government for a prisoner taken at sea during a naval engagement. This bounty or reward money is divided among the officers and crew similarly as prize money. In the context of Maritime law, head money refers to tax or duty on ship-owners that was imposed by an 1882 federal statute for every immigrant brought into the United States. This is also termed as head tax.
