My question would be whether the infant (i.e. the minor child) in fact
petitioned on his own for guardianship or whether the court elected to
petition in the name of the infant?

It would help if you reproduced the petition for inspection.

You should expect that just as today with differences among the states, the
rules controlling guardianship in 1761 would have differed from colony to
colony.


Professor T. J. Davis, Ph.D., J.D.
Department of History           College of Law
Arizona State University        Arizona State University
Box 872501                      Box 877906
Tempe   AZ  85287-2501          Tempe   AZ 85287-7906
VOX:    (480) 965-4931          (480) 965-6847
FAX:    (480) 965-0310          (480) 965-2427



On Tue, 19 Oct 1999 [log in to unmask] wrote:

> Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1999 08:35:00 -0500
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Reply-To: "A LISTSERV list for discussions pertaining to New York State

     history." <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Guardianships
>
> Was there a minium age at which a minor boy would be permited by the court
> to nominate his own guardian?  I'm looking at a petition in 1761 from a boy
> whose father is deceased and asked the court to appoint a particular adult
> to be his guardian and wondering what kind of inference I can make about the
> boy's age.  Would this have varied from colony to colony?
>
> > Janet L. Washbon
> > Bureau Director, Policy and Government Relations, WTCSB
> > 310 Price Place, PO Box 7874
> > Madison, WI  53707-7874
> > Phone:  (608) 266-2017
> > Fax:  (608) 266-1690
> >
>