2 If the guardian thinks the transaction will be beneficial to his
pupil, his authority should be given presently and on the spot.
Subsequent ratification, or authority given by letter, has no
effect. 3 In case of a suit between guardian and pupil, as the
former cannot lawfully authorize an act in which he is personally
concerned or interested, a curator is now appointed, in lieu of
the old praetorian guardian, with whose co-operation the suit is
carried on, his office determining as soon as it is decided.

TITLE XXII
OF THE MODES IN WHICH GUARDIANSHIP IS
TERMINATED

Pupils of either sex are freed from guardianship when they reach
the age of puberty, which the ancients were inclined to determine,
in the case of males, not only by age, but also by reference to
the physical development of individuals. Our majesty, however,
has deemed it not unworthy of the purity of our times to apply
in the case of males also the moral considerations which, even
among the ancients, forbade in the case of females as indecent
the inspection of the person. Consequently by the promulgation
of our sacred constitution we have enacted that puberty in males
shall be considered to commence immediately on the completion
of the fourteenth year, leaving unaltered the rule judiciously laid
down by the ancients as to females, according to which they are
held fit for marriage after completing their twelfth year. 1 Again,
tutelage is terminated by adrogation or deportation of the pupil
before he attains the age of puberty, or by his being reduced to
slavery or taken captive by the enemy. 2 So too if a testa-
mentary guardian be appointed to hold office until the occur-