GTJABDIA. 332 GUARDIAN. died in office. He was defeated for a third re- election sliortly before his deatli. GUARDIAGRELE, gwar'de-agra'la. A city in the Province of Chieti, Italy, 18 miles from the Adriatic and from Ortona, the nearest rail- way station (Map: Italy, J 5). It marliets grain, olives, and vegetables, and has numerous fairs. Four miles from the town is a mineral spring, ricli in bicarbonate of iron and magnesia. Popu- lation of commune, in 1901, 9493. GUARDIAN. One having lawful care and control of the person or property, or both, of an individual who cannot take care of himself. This definition includes guardians of lunatics, idiots, liabitual drunkards, spendthrifts, etc., though such a guardian is usually styled a 'committee.' It also embraces a guardian or overseer of the poor and many other custodians. But in its most usual acceptation the word guardian is employed to denote one who has the custody and care of the person or property, or both, of an in- fant, i.e. of a person under twenty-one years of age, during the whole or some part of his mi- nority. Such guardians exist either, I., by virtue and operation of law, or II., by special appoint- ment by parents or courts. I. In the first class are (1) guardians fty na- ture; (2) guardians for ««r<ure; (3) guardians in socage; and (4) guardians by estoppel. (1) A guardian by nature is, in England, one who has the care and charge of the person, but not of the property of the heir apparent. The guardian- ship continues until the ward reax-hes the age of twenty-one. (2) In English law also a guardian for nurture is one who has the management of the persons only of all the children other than the heir apparent, until they are fourteen years of age. Both of these species of guardianship repre- sent the natural right of parents to the custody and control of their children. They vest, there- fore, in the father, or, upon his death or disabil- ity, in the mother. But in the case of illegiti- mate children the mother has the preference. In the United States, where all the children inherit equally, these two forms of guardianship are substantially the same, and are governed by the laws relative to the relation of parent and child. (3) Guardianship in socage, under the ancient law, pertained to both the person and estate of the ward. It arose when an infant under fourteen obtained land by descent, but might then extend to his personal property also. It devolved upon the infant's nearest of kin who could not possibly inherit the prop- erty. It ceased when the ward reached the age of fourteen if the infant elected to appoint an- other guardian. Otherwise it might continue. This form of guardianship is obsolete in most of the United States, and in those States where it is retained it is no longer necessary that the guardian shall be incapable of inheriting from the infant. (4) A person who officiously meddles with the property of an infant may be required by the court to account to the infant, the same as if he were in fact guardian. He is then said to be a guardian hi) estoppel. See Estoppel. II. Guardians appointed by parents or courts are now the most common. They include: (1) Testamentary guardians and (2) judicial guar- dians, and within the second class are embraced (a) guardians in Chancery. (6) guardians ad litem, and (c) guardians appointed by courts. by virtue of some statutory authority. ( 1 ) The English statute 12 Car. II., ch. 24, first gave to a father poer to appoint by will a guardian of his minor children, born or unborn, and vested in such testamentary guardian control of both the person and the estate of the ward until he became twenty-one years of age. That statute is generally reenacted in the United States. Such a guardian is under the jurisdiction of equity, must account strictly for his acts, and is the re- cipient of a personal trust which cannot be dele- gated. (2) (a) The King of England early delegated his power, as parens patriw, to appoint guardians for infants and other incompetent per- sons to the Court of Chancery, and that authority still exists in the Chancery Division. In the United States the same right is exercised by courts of equity, though frequently regulated and modified by statute. The guardianship lasts until the infant is twenty-one years old, but after he is fourteen his choice and wishes will be taken into consideration by the court in making the appointment. (b) It is also an inherent power of a court, before which an infant comes as a part}-, to appoint a guardian ad litem or spe- cial guardian for that particular suit. The ap- pointee is usually an attorney-at-law. (c) It was only by force of statute that the English ecclesiastical courts acquired the power to ap- point guardians for infants. And the .same is true of probate and surrogate courts in America. That power is genemllj- conferred on such courts in the United States, and in some States other designated courts are given the same authority, by special statutory enactment. The authority of a guardian closely resembles that of a parent. He has in general the custody of the ward's person, the right to change his domicile, or bind him out as an apprentice, the direction of his education, secular and religious, and the power to deal generally with his personal property, and to sell and dispose of the same. But he cannot sell the real estate of the ward, though he may manage and lease it, and receive the rents and profits for the ward's benefit. The duties of a guardian are summarized by the statement that, since he is in effect a trustee, he must act exclusively in the ward's interest, and must take no profit to himself by virtue of his position. He must keep the property pro- ductive, and invest in such securities only as are directly authorized by law or by the court. He is not obliged to support the ward, except out of the ward's property. His acts are closely scru- tinized by the courts and he may be required, from time to time, to give an account of his dealing with the ward's property. The ward has generally one year after becoming of age in which, to call the guardian to account. The guar- dian's compensation is usually statutory and by way of commissions. 'The guardianship of the person terminates when the ward marries, and the better authori- ties hold the same to be true as to the property. The court which appoints a guardian may re- move him for good cause. Guardians not judi- cially appointed cannot be removed by a court in England, but in the United States such power is generally vested in the courts by statute. For the guardianship vested in lords of lands held by military tenure under the feudal .system in England, see Tenuee. See also Parent and Child.
