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Chap, xliv] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 515 finally determined by the age of puberty. Without his consent, no act of the pupil could bind himself to his own prejudice, though it might oblige others for his personal benefit. It is needless to observe that the tutor often gave security and al- ways rendered an account, and that the want of diligence or integrity exposed him to a civil and almost criminal action for the violation of his sacred trust. The age of puberty had been rashly fixed by the civilians at fourteen ; 139 but, as the faculties of the mind ripen more slowly than those of the body, a curator was interposed to guard the fortunes of a Roman youth from his own inexperience and headstrong passions. Such a trustee had been first instituted by the prastor, to save a family from the blind havoc of a prodigal or madman ; and the minor was compelled by the laws to solicit the same protection to give validity to his acts till he accomplished the full period of twenty- five years. Women were condemned to the perpetual tutelage of parents, husbands, or guardians ; 140 a sex created to please and to obey was never supposed to have attained the age of reason and experience. Such at least was the stern and haughty spirit of the ancient law, which had been insensibly mollified before the time of Justinian. II. The original right of property can only be justified by the n.pf accident or merit of prior occupancy ; and on this foundation it Eight of is wisely established by the philosophy of the civilians. 141 The proper y savage who hollows a tree, inserts a sharp stone into a wooden handle, or applies a string to an elastic branch, becomes in a state of nature the just proprietor of the canoe, the bow, or the hatchet. The materials were common to all ; the new form, the produce of his time and simple industry, belongs solely to himself. His hungrv brethren cannot, without a sense of their own injustice, extort from the hunter the game of the forest overtaken or slain by his personal strength and dexterity. If his provident care preserves and multiplies the tame animals, 139 [It was first fixed at this age (in accordance with the opinion of the Proculians) by Justinian.] 140 [Here tutelage is used in a wider sense than tutela. Every woman sui iuris (i.e., neither under potestas, nor in vianus) was under the tutela of a guardian. Every freedman was under the tutela of his patron.] 141 Institut. 1. ii. tit. i. ii. Compare the pure and precise reasoning of Caius and Heineccius (1. ii. tit. i. p. 69-91), with the loose prolixity of Theophilus (p. 207- 265). The opinions of Ulpian are preserved in the Pandects (1. i. tit. viii. leg. 41, No. 1).