It is also hereby provided that if any suits are brought against minors, their guardian, should he desire it, has a right to defend such actions. If, however, he should neglect to do so, a judgment shall be rendered by the court in favor of the plaintiff, without prejudice to the rights of the minors to have the matter reviewed, when they shall become of lawful age. If the party who made the claim should lose his case when the minor has reached his majority, he shall be compelled to restore to the minor, or to his relatives, or to any one who may have a right to it, whatever property he obtained under the judgment aforesaid, along with any income it may have produced, and any profits which may have accrued from its possession; and he shall be compelled to pay ten _solidi_ in addition, because he has prosecuted a claim which was not valid in law. Where a guardian desires to defend any action brought against his ward in court he shall have full authority to do so; but if the rights of the ward should be affected, or his property impaired or lost through his neglect, the guardian shall afterwards be compelled to make restitution. =THE GLORIOUS FLAVIUS RECESVINTUS, KING.= =IV. Guardians shall have no Right to Exact from Wards in their Charge any Instruments in Writing whatever.= As minors are unable to care for themselves or their property, it has been wisely provided by the laws that they should be subjected to the authority of guardians, and that their business should be transacted for them for a stated number of years. For the reason, however, that certain guardians, by means of either persuasion or threats, defraud those whose interests it is their duty to carefully protect, and compel them to enter into agreements that they will not demand an accounting of their property, or exact bonds or other written instruments from their wards, by means of which they seek to prevent inquiry into their actions: therefore, that our solicitude for the rights of such wards may the better appear in all matters where such rights are involved, we hereby decree that the following law must be strictly observed, to wit: that in the case of such wards, even when they have passed the age of fourteen years, where the guardian or guardians who had charge of their persons and property shall be found to have caused the execution of any bond or written instrument of any description, which enures to the benefit of said guardians or any person designated by them, then such bond or instrument shall be void, and of no force whatever in law.