GUARDIAN. 
that his office originally was to instruct the 
ward, under the feudal tenures, in the arts 
of war, as well as those of husbandry and 
tillage, that When he came of age, he 
might be the better able to perform those 
services to his lord, whereby he held his 
own land. 
There are several kinds of guardians, as, 
guardian by nature, guardian by the com- 
mon law, guardian by statute, guardian by 
custom, guardian in chivalry, guardian in 
socage, and guardian by appointment of the 
Lord Chancellor. 
Guardian by nature, is the father or mo- 
ther ; and by the comihon law' every father 
hath a right of guardianship of the body of 
his son and heir, until he attains to the age 
of twenty-one years. This guardianship 
extends no further than the custody of the 
infant’s person. The father may disappoint 
the mother, and other ancestors, of the 
guardianship by nature, by appointing a 
testamentary guardian under the statutes 
4 and 5 Phil, and Mary, and 12 Char. II. A 
guardian by nature hath only the care of the 
person and education of the infant, and 
ha tli nothing to do with his lands, merely in 
virtue of his office ; for such guardian may 
be, though the infant have no lands- at all, 
which a guardian in socage cannot. 
Guardian, by the common law, or Guar- 
dian in Socage. If a tenant in socage 
die, his heir being under fourteen, whether 
he be his issue or cousin, male or female, 
the next of blood to the heir, to whom the 
inheritance cannot descend, shall be guar- 
dian of his body and land till fourteen • and 
although the nature of socage tenure is 
in some measure changed from what it ori- 
ginally was, yet it is still called socage 
tenure, and the guardian in socage is still 
only where lands of that kind, as most of 
the lands in England now are, descend to 
the heir within age; and though the heir 
after fourteen may choose his own guardian, 
who shall continue till he is twenty-one* 
yet as well the guardian before fourteen, as 
he whom the infant shall think fit to choose 
after fourteen, are both of the same nature, 
and have the same office, without any in- 
tervention or direction of the infant him- 
self; they are to transact all affairs in their 
own name, and not in the name of t[je in- 
fant, Which they would be obliged to do, 
if their authority were derived from him. 
This guardianship is so little resorted to, 
although all lands are now of socage tenure 7 
that it is needless to enquire further into it 
here. 
Guardian by statute, or Testamentary 
Guardian. By the common law, no per- 
son could appoint a guardian, because the 
law had appointed one, whether the father 
were tenant by knight service, or in 
socage. 
The first statute that gave the father a 
power of appointing, was ihe 4 and 5 
Philip and Mary, c. 8, which provides, 
under severe penalties, such as fine and 
imprisonment for years, against taking any 
maid, or w’oman child unmarried, being 
within the age of sixteen years, out of or 
from the possession, custody, or govern- 
ance, and against the will of the father of 
such maid, or woman child, or of such person 
or persons, to whom the father of such 
maid, or woman child, by his last will and 
testament, or by any other act in his life 
time, shall grant the education and govern- 
ance of such child. 
But the principal guardianship is now by 
the statute 12 Charles II. c. 24, by which 
any father, under or of full age, may by 
deed or will, attested by two witnesses, ap- 
point, dispose of the custody of his child 
born or unborn to any person except a 
popish recusant convict, either in posses- 
sion or reversion till such child attain 
twenty-one. This guardian supersedes the 
guardian in socage, and has all actions 
which that guardian might have had. Be- 
sides which he has the care of the estate, 
real and personal. A father cannot under 
this statute appoint oneTo his natural child, 
and a case has been decided upon the mar- 
riage act, in which a marriage with consent 
of a guardian applied to a natural child was 
held void. The chancellor, however, will 
upon application appoint the same person 
guardian. 
Guardians by custom, are appointed in 
the City of London, in the county of Kent, 
and with respect to copyhold lands in soma 
manors. 
Guardians by appointment of the eccle< 
siastical court, were appointed to take care 
of the infant’s personal estate, till fourteen 
in males,, and twelve in females ; but their 
authority over the person is now denied, 
and they are only confined to guardianship 
for the purpose of a suit in an ecclesiastical 
court. 
Guardian, in chivalry, is obsolete, but 
extended to twenty-one years. 
Guardian, by appointment of the Lord 
Chancellor. It is not easy to state how 
this jurisdiction w'as acquired ; for it is 
certainly of no very ancient date, though 
