guardianship

Etymology

guardian + -ship

noun

1. The office or position of one acting as a guardian or conservator, especially in a legal capacity.
   Forbidden to you are your mothers and your daughters and your sisters and your paternal aunts and your maternal aunts and brothers' daughters and sisters' daughters and your mothers that have suckled you and your foster-sisters and mothers of your wives and your step-daughters who are in your guardianship, (born) of your wives to whom you have gone in, but if you have not gone in to them, there is no blame on you (in marrying them), and the wives of your sons who are of your own loins and that you should have two sisters together, except what has already passed; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. 1917, Maulana Muhammad Ali (translator), Qu’ran The Women, 4.23
   An application for guardianship must be founded on two medical recommendations, the procedure being similar to an application for admission for treatment. 1986, Philip Bean, Mental Disorder and Legal Control, page 84