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Age of Majority

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The age at which a person, formerly a minor or an infant, is recognized by law to be an adult, capable of managing his or her own affairs and responsible for any legal obligations created by his or her actions.

A person who has reached the age of majority is bound by any contracts, deeds, or legal relationships, such as marriage, which he or she undertakes. In most states the age of majority is eighteen, but it may vary depending upon the nature of the activity in which the person is engaged. In the same state the age of majority for driving may be sixteen while that for drinking alcoholic beverages is twenty-one.

Another name for the age of majority is legal age.

 
 
Wikipedia: age of majority

The age of majority is the threshold of adulthood as it is conceptualized in law. It is the chronological moment when children legally assume majority control over their persons and their actions and decisions, thereby terminating the legal control and legal responsibilities of their parents over and for them.

In practical terms, there are certain specific actions which a person who attains the age of majority is permitted to take, which they could not do before. These may include entering into a binding contract, voting, buying and/or consuming alcoholic beverages, driving motor vehicles on public roads, and marrying without obtaining consent of others. The ages at which these various rights or powers may be exercised vary as between the various rights and as between different jurisdictions. For example, the ages at which a person may obtain a license to drive a car or consume alcoholic beverages vary considerable between and also within jurisdictions.

Explanation

There are some things in life (such as death) over which no person has any control, so one assumes "majority control" over one’s life at the age in question, instead of "full" control (hence, age of majority instead of, e.g., "age of full control"). The period preceding the age of majority is the period of minority, during which the child has minority control over his or her person and actions, while the parents hold majority control and have power to overrule most of the child’s decisions and desires, and can sometimes reverse the child's actions.

Age of majority is frequently confused with similar concept, the age of licence, which also pertains to the threshold of adulthood but in a much broader and more abstract way. As a legal term of art, "licence" means "permission", and it can implicate a legally enforceable right or privilege. Thus, an age of licence is an age at which one has legal permission from government to do something. The age of majority, on the other hand, is legal recognition that one has grown into an adult. One does not need legal permission to grow up; it just happens.

For example, in any jurisdiction, the age at which an individual is allowed to exercise the franchise (vote), leave school without taking a diploma, enter into legally binding contracts (other than for necessaries, to which no age of licence applies), operate a motor vehicle, purchase and consume alcoholic beverages, and so on – these are all ages of licence, at which the law permits an individual to perform certain acts and exercise certain rights, with or without any restrictions.

Age of majority pertains solely to the acquisition of control over one’s person, decisions and actions, and the correlative termination of the legal authority and responsibility of the parents (or guardian(s), in lieu of parents) over the child’s persons and affairs generally.

Many ages of licence are correlated to the age of majority, but they are nonetheless legally distinct concepts. One need not have attained the age of majority to have permission to exercise certain rights and responsibilities. Some ages of licence are actually higher than the age of majority. For example, the age of licence to purchase alcoholic beverages is 21 in all U.S. States. For most other purposes, the age of majority in the U.S. is 18, except for 4 states with the age of 19 and 2 states that retain 21 as the age of majority.

A child who is legally emancipated by a court of competent jurisdiction automatically attains to his or her majority upon the signing of the court order. This is distinct from the legal process by which a child might be taken into foster care and/or made a ward of the court. Foster care and court wardship do not confer majority upon the child so separated from his or her parents (or guardians). Only emancipation confers the status of majority before a person has actually reached the age of majority.

Almost all jurisdictions automatically confer emancipation (and with it, the status of majority) upon otherwise minor individuals who are married. Some do likewise for minors who are on active duty in the armed forces.[1]

Countries and Subdivisions

References

  1. ^ Statutory and Judicial Emancipation of Minors in the United States, 2001-2002 analysis by law students of Northeastern University
  2. ^ Legal Matters for Grandparents Raising Children, Butler University Center for Citizenship and Community (accessed September 11, 2007)

See also


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

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Law Encyclopedia. West's Encyclopedia of American Law. Copyright © 1998 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Age of majority".  Read more

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