CURATOR, from the Latin Cura, `care.' Curators in ancient Rome were public officers of various kinds, particu htrly after the time of Augustus, who eotablished several officers with this title. (S'uet., Augustus, cap. S7.) 1. Curatores viarum, that is, curators win) superintended the laying out and repairing of the public roads. This office e:Tisted under the Republic (Cicero, Ad Attic. i. 1), but it was only held as an extraordinary office, and was con ferred only for special purposes.
2. Curatores operum publicorum, aquarum, cloacarum, who had the su perintendence of the public buildings, theatres. bridges, aqueducts, and dowse.
3. Curatores alvei Tiberis, who were We conservators of the Tiber.
4. Curatores frumenti populo divi dundi, whose duty was to distribute corn among the people. Under the emperors we find other officers with the name of curatores ; as, for instance, the cu retorea ludorum, who had the superin tendence of the public amusements : and curatores reipubliese, also called logistic, whose duty ft was to administer the landed property of municipia.
Curator is also the name of a person who was appointed to protect persons in their dealings who were above the age of puberty and under the age of twenty-five years. On attaining the age of puberty, which was fourteen according to some authorities, a youth acquired full legal capacity, and he could act without the intervention of a tutor. But though he had thus attained full legal capacity, it was considered that he still required pro tection, and this was given him by a Lex Pltetoria, the date of which is uncertain, but it is as old as the time of Plautus, who alludes to it The effect of this law was to divide all males into two classes, those above twenty-five years of age and those below, who were sometimes called minores or minors. The object of the law was to protect minors against fraud, for the minor, if he had been cheated in a con tract, might plead the Lex PlEetoria against an attempt to enforce it. Pro bably, also, a man who dealt with a minor might protect himself against any risk of the dealing being called in ques tion, by requiring the minor to have a curator for the occasion. It would not
be the business of the curator to assent to the contract of the minor, who had full legal capacity, but to prevent his being cheated. The praetorian edict extended the principle of the Lex Phetoria by setting aside all transactions by a minor which might be injurious to him ; but it was necessary for the minor to apply to the prtetor for redress during his minority, or within one year after he had attained his majority. The remedy that the praetor gave to the minor was the " in integrum restitutio," which means restor ing the applicant to his former position by setting aside the contract or dealing.
Till the time of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, it appears that a minor only had a curator on special occasions, as when he wished to make a contract. In this case he applied to the praetor, and stated the grounds on which he applied. The praetor then gave him a curator if he thought proper. We must suppose that the appli cation would only be made when the matter was of some importance. The object of the application was the security of the person who dealt with the minor, and the benefit of the minor also ; for a prudent person would not deal with him without such security. The Emperor Aurelius established it as a general prin ciple that all minors should have curators. The subject of the Roman curators is fully investigated by Savigny. ( Von dem Schutz der Minderjahrigen, Zeitschrirt fur Ge schichtliche Rechtswissenschaft, x.) If a man was wasting his property imprudently (prodigus ), his next of kin (aguati) were his curators ; and the same was the rule as to a man who was out of his mind (furiosus). The law of the Twelve Tables fixed this rule ; and in cases to which the law of the Twelve Tables did not apply, the praetor named a curator or committee.
It may be just as well to warn people not to confound a Roman Curator with a Roman 'Tutor [Turon).