It is a common error to suppose that this Assize restores wardship to the lord. Footnote 386: See _Pipe Roll_, 29 Henry II., cited Madox, I. 483. Footnote 387: Cf. _supra_, p. 78. Guardians were of two kinds. The king might entrust the lands to the sheriff of the county where they lay (or to one of his bailiffs), such sheriff drawing the revenues on the Crown’s behalf, and accounting in due season at the exchequer. Alternatively, the king might make an out-and-out grant of the office, together with all profit to be derived from it, to a private individual, either some royal favourite or the bidder of the highest price. Commentators of a later date[388] apply the word “committee” to the former type of guardian, reserving “grantee” for the latter. This distinction, which is mentioned by Glanvill,[389] obtains recognition in this passage of the Charter. Neither was likely to have the interests of the minor at heart. Both would extort the maximum of revenue, the one for the king, the other for himself. They had always strong inducements to exhaust the soil, stock, and timber, uprooting and cutting down whatever would fetch a price, and replacing nothing. The heir found too often a wilderness of impoverished lands and empty barns. ----- Footnote 388: _E.g._ Coke, _Second Institute_, p. 13. Footnote 389: VII. c. 10. ----- The remedies proposed by Magna Carta were too timid and half-hearted; yet something was effected. It was unnecessary to repeat the recognized rule that the minor must receive, out of the revenues of the land, maintenance and education suited to his station; but the Crown was restrained by chapter 3 from exacting relief where wardship had already been enjoyed; chapter 37 forbade John to exact wardship in certain cases where it was not legally due; while here in chapter 4 an attempt was made to protect the estate from waste. The promised reforms included a definition of “waste”; punishment of the wasteful guardian; and protection against repetition of the abuse. Each of these calls for comment. (1) _The definition of waste._ The Charter uses the words “_vastum hominum vel rerum_” (a phrase which occurs also in Bracton).[390] It is easy to understand waste of goods; but what is "waste of men"? An answer may be found in the words of the so-called “unknown Charter of Liberties,”[391] which binds guardians to hand over the land to the heir “_sine venditione nemorum et sine redemptione hominum_.” Clearly, to enfranchise villeins was one method of “wasting men.” The young heir, when he came to the enjoyment of his estates, must not find his praedial serfs emancipated.[392] The words of the “unknown Charter” may be used to illustrate the text, even if it be a forgery, since a consensus of opinion holds it to be either contemporary or of slightly later date.[393] ----- Footnote 390: II. folio 87. Footnote 391: See Appendix. Footnote 392: