or until the expiration of the term: and even if no condition
was attached to the appointment of a testamentary guardian,
a temporary guardian could be obtained under these statutes
until the succession had vested. In all these cases the office
of the guardian so appointed determined as soon as the con-
dition was fulfilled, or the term expired, or the succession
vested in the heir. 2 On the capture of a guardian by the ene-
my, the same statutes regulated the appointment of a substitute,
who continued in office until the return of the captive; for if he
returned, he recovered the guardianship by the law of post-
liminium. 3 But guardians have now ceased to be appointed
under these statutes, the place of the magistrates directed by
them to appoint being taken, first, by the consuls, who began
to appoint guardians to pupils of either sex after inquiry into
the case, and then by the praetors, who were substituted for
the consuls by the imperial constitutions; for these statutes con-
tained no provisions as to security to be taken from guardians
for the safety of their pupils' property, or compelling them to
accept the office in case of disinclination. 4 Under the present
law, guardians are appointed at Rome by the prefect of the city,
and by the praetor when the case falls within his jurisdiction; in
the provinces they are appointed, after inquiry, by the governor,
or by inferior magistrates at the latter's behest if the pupil's
property is of no great value. 5 By our constitution, however,
we have done away with all difficulties of this kind relating to
the appointing person, and dispensed with the necessity of
waiting for an order from the governor, by enacting that if the
property of the pupil or adult does not exceed five hundred
solidi, guardians or curators shall be appointed by the officers
known as defenders of the city, along with the holy bishop of