>4, L. Caporaso's results hold true for both Hilbert and Chow semistability. If 3.5

Introduction.- Singular Curves.- Combinatorial Results.- Preliminaries on GIT.- Potential Pseudo-stability Theorem.- Stabilizer Subgroups.- Behavior at the Extremes of the Basic Inequality.- A Criterion of Stability for Tails.- Elliptic Tails and Tacnodes with a Line.- A Strati_cation of the Semistable Locus.- Semistable, Polystable and Stable Points (part I).- Stability of Elliptic Tails.- Semistable, Polystable and Stable Points (part II).- Geometric Properties of the GIT Quotient.- Extra Components of the GIT Quotient.- Compacti_cations of the Universal Jacobian.- Appendix: Positivity Properties of Balanced Line Bundles.