When a female ward reaches the proper age to marry, she should be married by the advice and consent of her lord, and by the advice and consent of her relatives and friends, according as the nobility of her ancestry and the value of her fief may require; and upon her marriage the fief which has been held in guardianship should be given over to her. A woman cannot be freed from wardship except by marriage; and let it not be said that she is of age until she is twenty years old. But if she be married at the age at which it is allowable for a woman to marry, the fact of her marriage makes her of age and delivers her fief from wardship. [Sidenote: The lord's obligation to care for the fief of his ward] The fiefs of those who are under wardship should be cared for attentively by their lords, who are entitled to receive the produce and profits.[332] And in this connection let it be known that the lord ought to preserve in their former condition the buildings, the manor-houses, the forests and meadows, the gardens, the ponds, the mills, the fisheries, and the other things of which he has the profits. And he should not sell, destroy, or remove the woods, the houses, or the trees. (_d_) RELIEFS A relief was a payment made to the lord by an heir before entering upon possession of his fief. The history of reliefs goes back to the time when benefices were not hereditary and when, if a son succeeded his father in the usufruct of a piece of property, it was regarded as an unusual thing--a special favor on the part of the owner to be paid for by the new tenant. Later, when fiefs had become almost everywhere hereditary, the custom of requiring reliefs still survived. The amount was at first arbitrary, being arranged by individual bargains; but in every community, especially in France, the tendency was toward a fixed custom regarding it. Below are given some brief extracts from English Treasury records which show how men in England between the years 1140 and 1230 paid the king for the privilege of retaining the fiefs held by their fathers. Source--Thomas Madox, _History and Antiquities of the Exchequer of the Kings of England_ (London, 1769), Vol. I., pp. 312-322 _passim_. Walter Hait renders an account of 5 marks of silver for the relief of the land of his father. Walter Brito renders an account of L66, 13s. and 4d. for the relief of his land. Richard of Estre renders an account of L15 for the relief for 3 knights' fees which he holds from the honor of Mortain. Walter Fitz Thomas, of Newington, owes 28s. 4d. for having a fourth part of one knight's fee which had been seized into the hand of the king for default of relief. John of Venetia renders an account of 300 marks for the fine of his land and for the relief of the land which was his father's which he held from the king _in capite_.[333]