they ſeem to have forgotten, how much it is the guardian's intereſt to remove the incumbrance of his pupil's life from that eſtate, for which he is ſuppoſed to have ſo great a regard[1]. And this affords Forteſcue[2], and ſir Edward Coke[3], an ample opportunity for triumph; they affirming, that to commit the cuſtody of an infant to him that is next in ſucceſſion, is "quaſi agnum committere lupo, ad devorandum[4]." Theſe guardians in ſocage, like thoſe for nurture, continue only till the minor is fourteen years of age; for then, in both caſes, he is preſumed to have diſcretion, ſo far as to chooſe his own guardian. This he may do, unleſs one be appointed by the father, by virtue of the ſtatute 12 Car. II. c. 24. which, conſidering the imbecillity of judgment in children of the age of fourteen, and the abolition of guardianſhip in chivalry (which laſted till the age of twenty one, and of which we ſhall ſpeak hereafter) enacts, that any father, under age or of full age, may by deed or will diſpoſe of the cuſtody of his child, either born or unborn, to any perſon, except a popiſh recuſant, either in poſſeſſion or reverſion, till ſuch child attains the age of one and twenty years. Theſe are called guardians by ſtatute, or teſtamentary guardians. There are alſo ſpecial guardians by cuſtom of London, and other places[5]; but they are particular exceptions, and do not fall under the general law.
The power and reciprocal duty of a guardian and ward are the ſame, pro tempore, as that of a father and child; and therefore I ſhall not repeat them: but ſhall only add, that the guardian, when the ward comes of age, is bound to give him an account
- ↑ The Roman ſatyriſt was fully aware of this danger, when he put this private prayer into the mouth of a ſelfiſh guardian;
—pupillum o utinam, quem proximus haeres Impello, expungam. Perſ. 1. 12.
- ↑ c. 44.
- ↑ 1 Inſt. 88.
- ↑ This policy of our Engliſh law is warranted by the wiſe inſtitutions of Solon, who provided that no one ſhould be another's guardian, who was to enjoy the eſtate after his death. (Potter's Antiqu. b. 1. c. 26.) And Charondas, another of the Grecian legiſlators, directed that the inheritance ſhould go to the father's relations, but the education of the child to the mother's; that the guardianſhip and right of ſucceſſion might always be kept diſtinct. (Petit. Leg. Att. l. 6. t. 7.)
- ↑ Co. Litt. 88.
