odor ab. A. Person, 87--90.--M.]

Chapter XLIV: Idea Of The Roman Jurisprudence.--Part VI.

The relation of guardian and ward, or in Roman words of tutor and pupil,
which covers so many titles of the Institutes and Pandects, [136] is of
a very simple and uniform nature. The person and property of an orphan
must always be trusted to the custody of some discreet friend. If the
deceased father had not signified his choice, the agnats, or paternal
kindred of the nearest degree, were compelled to act as the natural
guardians: the Athenians were apprehensive of exposing the infant to
the power of those most interested in his death; but an axiom of
Roman jurisprudence has pronounced, that the charge of tutelage should
constantly attend the emolument of succession. If the choice of the
father, and the line of consanguinity, afforded no efficient guardian,
the failure was supplied by the nomination of the praetor of the city,
or the president of the province. But the person whom they named to
this public office might be legally excused by insanity or blindness, by
ignorance or inability, by previous enmity or adverse interest, by the
number of children or guardianships with which he was already burdened,
and by the immunities which were granted to the useful labors of
magistrates, lawyers, physicians, and professors. Till the infant could
speak, and think, he was represented by the tutor, whose authority was
finally determined by the age of puberty. Without his consent, no act
of the pupil could bind himself to his own prejudice, though it might
oblige others for his personal benefit. It is needless to observe, that
the tutor often gave security, and always rendered an account, and that
the want of diligence or integrity exposed him to a civil and almost
criminal action for the violation of his sacred trust. The age of
puberty had been rashly fixed by the civilians at fourteen; [1361] but
as the faculties of the mind ripen more slowly than those of the body,
a curator was interposed to guard the fortunes of a Roman youth from his
own inexperience and headstrong passions. Such a trustee had been first
instituted by the praetor, to save a family from the blind havoc of a
prodigal or madman; and the minor was compelled, by the laws, to solicit
the same protection, to give validity to his acts till he accomplished
the full period of twenty-five years. Women were condemned to the
perpetual tutelage of parents, husbands, or gu