wardshipn.

1454 J. Russe in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 104 Ser, forasmyche as the Kyng hathe grauntyd be hese letteres patentys the wardship wyth the profitys of the londys of T. Fastolf duryng hese noun-age to you and T. H. [etc.].

1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII c. 46 Personnes, to whom the kinges highnes shall graunt the custodye and wardeship of any of his graces wardes.

1543 tr. Act 3 Edw. I c. 47 And yf an other wardeyne than the chiefe lorde do it, he shall lese the wardshyp of all togyther.

1586 T. Randolph in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. III. 123 The Master of Glames and the Secretarye have gotten of the King the wardshippe and marriage of the Erle Mongomeris sonne, being but two yeares of age.

1641 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. F. Biondi Hist. Civil Warres Eng. I. v. 127 He gave him two rich wardships.

1766 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. II. v. 67 The lord was intitled to the wardship of the heir; and was called the guardian in chivalry. This wardship consisted in having the custody of the body and lands of such heir, without any account of the profits, till the age of twenty one in males, and sixteen in females.

1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. iv. 237 King Lewis may have already begun to entertain some dim notion of wardship over the fief of a minor vassal as a right of necessity appertaining to the Lord.

1884 Law Times 77 309/1 Sect. 35..assigns to the Chancery Division the wardship of infants.

1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 456 [He] freed this kingdome from the wardship of the Peeres.

1635 F. Quarles Emblemes ii. iii. 74 Thou grand Impostor, how hast thou obtain'd The wardship of the world!

1641 J. Milton Of Reformation 43 This is the masterpiece of a modern politician,..how the puny Law may be brought under the wardship, and controul of lust, and will.

1647 Earl of Clarendon Contempl. Psalms in Tracts (1727) 385 Truth itself is so much in the wardship of Almighty God,..that if all other means fail, he will by his own immediate power vindicate it.

1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. ix. 335 This officer is of equal antiquity with the sheriff; and was ordained together with him to keep the peace, when the earls gave up the wardship of the county.

1825 W. Scott Betrothed xiii, in Tales Crusaders II. 276 I pray you let me have the grace to take first possession of the Garde Doloureuse, and the wardship or forfeiture of the offending lady.

1884 Ld. Rosebery in Pall Mall Gaz. 9 Dec. 7/2 Great Britain could have no wish for selfish annexation. She was already committed to wardship and protection of an empire such as the world had never yet seen.

1887 H. Caine Deemster III. xxxvii. 140 I try in these my last days to put my memory under wardship.

1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Gal. iv. f. xiii Assone as we came out of wardeship, and wer growen vp to a ryper age.

1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique 66 In lamentyng the miserye of wardeshyppes, I might saie it is not for noughte so communely said, I wil handle you like a warde.

1579–80 T. North tr. Demosthenes in Plutarch Lives (1612) 846 When he came out of his wardship, he beganne to put his guardians in suite.

1583 Sir T. Smith's De Republica Anglorum iii. v. 98 The man is not out of wardshippe by our lawe till xxj. yere olde, from thence he is reckoned of full age, aswell as in the Romane lawes at xxv.

1632 P. Massinger Emperour of East ii. i. sig. E Let it suffice My wardships out. If your designe concernes vs As a man, and not a boy, with our allowance You may deliuer it.

1643 R. Baker Chron. Kings of Eng. ii. 10 He was somewhat more then one and twenty; Well, then (said he) I am out of Wardship.

1780 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. (1789) xvi. §44. 266 (note) In certain nations, women, whether married or not, have been placed in a state of perpetual wardship.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People iii. §5. 140 Three English earls who were in royal wardship were wedded by the King to foreigners.

1583 Sir T. Smith's De Republica Anglorum i. viii. 7 Lewes the xi...was wont to glory and say, he had brought the crowne of Fraunce hors de page, as one would say out of Wardship.

1648 T. Fairfax Remonstrance 46 To deliver His Crown once for all, from Wardship (as he counts it) to Parliamentary power.

1800 S. T. Coleridge tr. F. Schiller Piccolomini i. iii. 112 I must perforce Leave him in wardship to his innocence.

1876 G. Bancroft Hist. U.S. (rev. ed.) II. xxvii. 186 We have written the origin of our country; we are now to pursue the history of its wardship.