ited in the civil
law[a]; as it is always in our law with regard to minors, though as to
lunatics and idiots it is commonly kept distinct.

[Footnote a: _Ff._ 26. 4. 1.]

OF the several species of guardians, the first are guardians _by
nature_: viz. the father and (in some cases) the mother of the child.
For, if an estate be left to an infant, the father is by common law
the guardian, and must account to his child for the profits[b]. And,
with regard to daughters, it seems by construction of the statute 4 &
5 Ph. & Mar. c. 8. that the father might by deed or will assign a
guardian to any woman-child under the age of sixteen, and if none be
so assigned, the mother shall in this case be guardian[c]. There are
also guardians _for nurture_[d], which are, of course, the father or
mother, till the infant attains the age of fourteen years[e]: and, in
default of father or mother, the ordinary usually assigns some
discreet person to take care of the infant's personal estate, and to
provide for his maintenance and education[f]. Next are guardians _in
socage_, (an appellation which will be fully explained in the second
book of these commentaries) who are also called guardians _by the
common law_. These take place only when the minor is entitled to some
estate in lands, and then by the common law the guardianship devolves
upon his next of kin, to whom the inheritance cannot possibly descend;
as, where the estate descended from his father, in this case his uncle
by the mother's side cannot possibly inherit this estate, and
therefore shall be the guardian[g]. For the law judges it improper to
trust the person of an infant in his hands, who may by possibility
become heir to him; that there may be no temptation, nor even
suspicion of temptation, for him to abuse his trust[h]. The Roman laws
proceed on a quite contrary principle, committing the care of the
minor to him who is the next to succeed to the inheritance, presuming
that the next heir would take the best care of an estate, to which he
has a prospect of succeeding: and this they boast to be "_summa
providentia_[i]." But in the mean time they forget, 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[k]. And this affords Fortescue[l], and sir Edward Coke[m], an
ample opportunity for triumph; they affirming, that to commit the
custody of an infant to him that is next in success