According to the rigor of law, bastards were entitled to
the name and condition of their mother, from whom they might derive the
character of a slave, a stranger, or a citizen. The outcasts of every
family were adopted without reproach as the children of the State.
The relation of guardian and ward, or in Roman words of _tutor_ and
_pupil_, which covers so many titles of the _Institutes_ and _Pandects_,
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.
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