CURATELA, CURATORE
Apart from the meaning (now almost obsolete) of the term *curatore* to denote certain officials entrusted with specific public services, the term *curatela* currently refers primarily to a private office (exercised by a *curatore*), consisting of a set of powers granted to the *curatore* for the purpose of assisting a person with limited legal capacity (a partially incapacitated person, an emancipated minor) or a person who is unable to safeguard their own interests (an absent person, an unborn child). It is therefore distinct from *tutela* (guardianship), which aims instead to provide a representative for those lacking legal capacity and not subject to *patria potestà* (parental authority).
In Roman law, the institution of *curatela* primarily concerned *furiosi* (persons of unsound mind), and later also *minores puberes* (pubescent minors) and the insane; the institution of the *curatore* of the absent person, the unborn child, and the vacant inheritance was also recognized.
In modern private law (in almost all legal systems), a *curatore* is appointed for partially incapacitated persons (who may be so due to partial mental impairment, congenital deafness or blindness, prodigality, and in some countries also due to alcohol or drug abuse) and for emancipated minors (v. EMANCIPATION); these individuals cannot perform all or certain acts exceeding ordinary administration without the consent of the *curatore*, and such acts are voidable in the absence of such consent (for Italy cf. Codice civile, arts. 90, 390-99, 415-32). Moreover, the appointment of special *curatori* is provided for (who generally also have more or less extensive powers of representation): for an incapacitated person or an entity lacking a legal representative in court (art. 78 of the Codice di procedura civile), for one who is or may be in a conflict of interest with their legal representative or their *curatore* (arts. 320, 321, 356, 394 of the Codice civile) or with one who has the same legal representative (art. 347 of the Codice civile), for a minor subject to *patria potestà* if the parent mismanages the minor’s estate (art. 334 of the Codice civile), for an unborn child whose father dies during the mother’s pregnancy (art. 339 of the Codice civile), for one who has disappeared from their last domicile or residence without any news of them (art. 48 of the Codice civile), and in some other cases (cf. arts. 90 and 165 of the Codice civile).
The term *curatore* is also applied to those entrusted with: a) administering a vacant inheritance, i.e., an inheritance not yet accepted and for which none of the heirs has taken possession of the assets (arts. 528-32 of the Codice civile); b) overseeing the liquidation of an inheritance accepted with the benefit of inventory (art. 508 of the Codice civile); c) administering the bankruptcy estate (R. D. 16 March 1942, no. 267).
Canon law, while until the codification of 1917 followed in this matter the terminology of Roman and common law, now uses the terms *tutore* and *curatore* somewhat interchangeably, also because the regulation of these institutions is largely left to civil laws, which do not follow a consistent terminology in all countries. Indeed, the *Codex Iuris Canonici* (CIC) contains few norms that take the *curatore* into account, and for certain procedural effects, it never mentions the *curatore* separately from the *tutore* (except in can. 93 § 1, where, however, it refers to what, according to modern terminology, is a *tutore*).
The norms of the CIC concerning the *curatore* are: a) a judge, the promoter of justice, or the defender of the bond cannot participate in a process if they have any interest in it due to a *curatela* they exercise (can. 1613); b) the *curatore* represents their ward in court, except in certain cases excluded from this rule; and it is for the Ordinary, after conducting the necessary investigations, to decide whether this task should be performed by the civil *curatore* or by another appointed by the Ordinary himself (can. 1648-51, 1725, and authentic interpretation of 25 January 1945); c) one who is the *curatore* of one of the parties is incapable of making a will or serving as an expert witness in court (can. 1757 § 3 n. 1 and 1795 § 2, although not explicitly).