Custody: Legal Care of a Child, and Being Held by Police
Custody means having care and control of someone or something. In family law it concerns children, and in criminal law it means detention.
Custody is care combined with control. The two legal senses pull in opposite emotional directions: custody of a child is something people fight to obtain, while being taken into custody is something they fight to avoid.
- Legal care of a child. *They share custody.*
- Detention by police. *He was remanded in custody.*
- Safekeeping of property. *The documents are in the bank's custody.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | custody | Joint custody. |
| Person | custodian | The building's custodian. |
| Adjective | custodial | A custodial sentence. |
| Related | custodianship | Custodianship of the archive. |
| Related | guardian | A legal guardian. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The suspect remains in custody.Held by the police or a court.
- A custodial sentence means time in prison.As opposed to a fine or community order.
- The museum is custodian of the collection.Holds it in trust rather than owning it outright.
Custody terms in family law
- Legal custody — the right to make major decisions
- Physical custody — where the child actually lives
- Joint custody — shared between both parents
- Sole custody — held by one parent alone
- England and Wales replaced custody with *residence* and then *child arrangements*, to reduce the sense of a prize to be won
From Latin *custodia*, guarding, from *custos*, a guardian. The same root gives custodian, and the prison sense is the older one in English — the family-law use came much later.
Is custody still used in English family law?
Not formally. Courts in England and Wales now make child arrangements orders, though people still say custody in conversation.
What is a custodian in a school?
In American English, the person responsible for cleaning and maintaining the building.