Curator, Curatorship

CURATOR - One who has been legally appointed to take care of the interests of one who, on account of his youth, or defect of his understanding, or for some other cause, is unable to attend to them himself.

There are curators ad bona, of property, who administer the estate of a minor, take care of his person, and intervene in all his contracts; curators ad litem, of suits, who assist the minor in courts of justice, and act as curator ad bona in cases where the interests of the curator are opposed to the interests of the minor. There are also curators of insane persons and of vacant successions and absent heirs.

The term curator is usually employed in the civil law for that of 'guardian.'

CURATORSHIP - Offices, Contracts, In The Civil Law. The power given by authority of law to one or more persons, to administer the property of an individual who is unable to take care of his owu estate and affairs, either on account of his absence without an authorized agent, or in consequence of his prodigality, or want of mind.

Curatorship differs from tutorship, in that the latter is instituted for the protection of property in the first place and, secondly, of the person; while the former is intended to protect, first, the person and, secondly, the property.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.