Age of majority

Explanation

The term age of majority can be confused with the similar concept of the age of license. As a legal term, license means permission, referring to a legally enforceable right or privilege. Thus, the age of license for a specific activity, e.g. the age of licence to drive a motorcar or a motorcycle of a given mechanical power, is the minimum age at which a person may be authorised for that activity. The age of majority, on the other hand, recognises that the person has become a legal adult in that jurisdiction.

Many ages of license coincide with the age of majority to recognize the transition to legal adulthood, 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 license may be higher, lower, or match the age of majority.

For example, to purchase alcoholic beverages, the age of license is 21 in all U.S. states. Another example is the voting age, which prior to 1971 was 21 in the US, as was the age of majority in all or most states. After the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18, the age of majority was lowered to 18 in most states. In most US states, one may obtain a driver's license, consent to sexual activity, and gain full-time employment at age 16 even though the age of majority is 18 in most states. In the Republic of Ireland the age of majority is 18, but one must be 21 or over to stand for election to the Houses of the Oireachtas. Also, in Portugal the age of majority is 18, and citizens who have reached that age are also eligible to run for Parliament, but they need to be 35 or over in order to run for president.

A child who is legally emancipated by a court of competent jurisdiction automatically attains to their maturity upon the signing of the court order. Only emancipation confers the status of maturity before a person has actually reached the age of majority. In almost all places, minors who marry are automatically emancipated. Some places also do the same for minors who are in the armed forces or who have a certain degree or diploma.

Minors who are emancipated may be able to choose where they live, sign contracts, and have control over their financial and medical decisions and generally make decisions free from parental control but are not exempt from age requirements set forth in law for other rights. For example, a minor can emancipate at 16 in the US (or younger depending on the state) but must still wait until 18 to vote or buy a firearm, and 21 to buy alcohol or tobacco.

The Jewish Talmud says that every judgment Josiah, the sixteenth king of Judah issued from his coronation until the age of eighteen was reversed and he returned the money to the parties whom he judged liable, due to concern that in his youth he may not have judged the cases correctly. Other Jewish commentators have discussed whether age 13 or 18 is the age to make decisions in a Jewish Court.

Roman law did not have an age of majority in the modern sense, as individuals remained under the authority of the Pater familias until his death. The age of adulthood was set at 12 for girls and 14 for boys, with boys gaining rights such as marriage, military service, and any legal capacity that depended on age only, including, until the introduction of the Lex Villia, the ability to be eligible for public office.

The Lex Plaetoria allowed those under 25 to contest disadvantageous agreements in case of fraud, later extending to other circumstances, and the other party might escape repercussions only if a curator was involved. To enter a contract, individuals in this age group could request the praetor for such a curator, thus ensuring protection for both sides: this shielded the other contracting party from legal risk and allowed transactions to proceed, as no prudent person would engage without this safeguard. Unlike with a tutor, the requester retained full legal capacity to act, and the role of the curator was merely to prevent fraud. Later, under Marcus Aurelius, their appointment became mandatory. Someone under 25 who wanted to enter a contract had to request a curator, and could propose a candidate, which the praetor could reject. The curator's control over property became closer to that of a tutor, but it was only applied to the properties that the praetor assigned to him, not those acquired by the requester after his appointment.

Over time, there was a gradual evolution, initially focusing on property laws, eventually arriving at the modern concept of age of majority, commonly set at 18.

Since 2015, some countries have lowered the voting age to 16. Some countries, like England and Wales, are even considering lowering the age of majority to 16, similar to how it already is in Cuba and Scotland. The main argument for lowering is that, on average, young people are much more educated (both because of better individual educational outcomes and being raised by more educated parents) than in the past (the same argument was made in the 1970s when most countries lowered the age of majority from 21 to 18, which remains the age used for most countries, including the United States). Related to newer generations being more educated and being ready for life earlier: compared to the past, information is much more easily accessible as a result of the spread of the Internet, which can be accessed through both the personal computer and the smartphone.

A person reaches the age of majority at midnight at the beginning of the day of that person's relevant birthday; under English common law this was not always the case.

Civil law

In many countries minors can be emancipated: depending on jurisdiction, this may happen through acts such as marriage, attaining economic self-sufficiency, obtaining an educational degree or diploma, or participating in a form of military service. In the United States, all states have some form of emancipation of minors.

The age of majority in countries (or administrative divisions) in the order of lowest to highest:

Age 16

• Cambodia
• Cuba
• Myanmar
• United Kingdom
  • Scotland
• Vietnam

Age 17

• North Korea
• Timor-Leste

Age 18

• Afghanistan
• Albania
• Andorra
• Angola
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Argentina
• Armenia
• Australia
• Austria
• Azerbaijan
• Bahamas
• Bahrain
• Bangladesh
• Barbados
• Belarus
• Belize
• Belgium
• Benin
• Bhutan
• Bolivia
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Botswana
• Brazil
• Brunei
• Bulgaria
• Burkina Faso
• Burundi
• Canada
  • Alberta
  • Manitoba
  • Ontario
  • Prince Edward Island
  • Quebec
  • Saskatchewan
• Cape Verde
• Central African Republic
• Chile
• China
  • Mainland China
  • Hong Kong
  • Macau
• Colombia
• Comoros
• Costa Rica
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Denmark (incl. Faroe Islands and Greenland)
• Djibouti
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• Egypt
• El Salvador
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Estonia
• Ethiopia
• Federated States of Micronesia
• Fiji
• Finland
• France
• Gambia
• Germany
• Georgia
• Ghana
• Greece
• Guatemala
• Guinea
• Guinea-Bissau
• Guyana
• Haiti
• Hungary
• Iceland
• India
• Indonesia
• Iran
• Iraq
• Ireland
• Israel
• Italy
• Jamaica
• Japan
• Jordan
• Kazakhstan
• Kenya
• Kosovo
• Kyrgyzstan
• Laos
• Latvia
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malawi
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Mali
• Malta
• Mauritania
• Mauritius
• Mexico
• Moldova
• Monaco
• Mongolia
• Montenegro
• Morocco
• Namibia
• Nauru
• Nepal
• Netherlands
• Nicaragua (female only)
• Nigeria
• North Macedonia
• Norway
• Oman
• Pakistan
• Palau
• Palestine
• Panama
• Papua New Guinea
• Paraguay
• Peru
• Philippines
• Poland
• Portugal
• Qatar
• Republic of the Congo
• Romania
• Russia
• Rwanda
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• San Marino
• Sao Tome and Principe
• Saudi Arabia
• Senegal
• Serbia
• Seychelles
• Sierra Leone
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Solomon Islands
• Somalia
• South Africa
• South Sudan
• Spain
• Sri Lanka
• Sudan
• Suriname
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Syria
• Taiwan
• Tajikistan
• Tanzania
• Togo
• Tonga
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Tunisia
• Turkey
• Turkmenistan
• Uganda
• Ukraine
• United Kingdom (excluding Scotland)
  • England
  • Northern Ireland
  • Wales
  • Crown Dependencies
    • Guernsey
    • Isle of Man
    • Jersey
  • British Overseas Territories
    • Gibraltar
• United States: all states, territories, and Washington, D.C. except: Alabama, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Puerto Rico.
• Uruguay
• Uzbekistan
• Vanuatu
• Vatican City
• Venezuela
• Yemen
• Zimbabwe

Age 19

• Algeria
• Canada
  • British Columbia
  • New Brunswick
  • Newfoundland and Labrador
  • Northwest Territories
  • Nova Scotia
  • Nunavut
  • Yukon
• South Korea
• United States
  • Alabama
  • Nebraska

Age 20

• New Zealand
• Thailand

Age 21

• Cameroon
• Chad
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Eswatini
• Gabon
• Grenada
• Honduras
• Kuwait
• Lesotho
• Madagascar
• Mozambique
• Niger
• Nicaragua (male only)
• Samoa
• Singapore
• United Arab Emirates
• United States
  • Mississippi
  • Puerto Rico
• Zambia

Unknown age

• Cook Islands
• Kiribati
• Marshall Islands
• Niue
• Tokelau
• Tuvalu

Religious law

Religions have their own rules as to the age of maturity, when a child is regarded to be an adult, at least for ritual purposes:

• Christianity (only the Roman Catholic Church): 18 years. However, the age majority for religious purposes comes after the sacrament of Confirmation, which usually occurs at age 15 or 16 for both males and females. Seminaries in the Catholic Church are divided into minor seminaries for teenagers and major seminaries for adults.
• Islam: Some schools rule based on the limit being 21 years for both males and females, some 21 for males and 17 for females, and some 15 for both. There is also a distinction in Islamic law between the state of adulthood and the ability to have sexual intercourse.
• Judaism: The age of majority is 13 years for boys (bar mitzvah) and 12 years for girls (bat mitzvah) for religious purposes. However, Jewish law follows (according to some interpretations) the law of the land if there is a difference, such as in marriage age.
• Baháʼí Faith: The spiritual age of maturity for every person born into a Baháʼí family is 16. At 16, the person is old enough to decide for themselves what religion they want to be, so they could decide to stay a Baháʼí or choose a different path. At this age, Baháʼís are considered youth (as opposed to children before 15). Baháʼí youth are 15–21 years old. Once a Baháʼí turns 15, if they declare themselves a Baháʼí, they are expected to recite a daily obligatory prayer and participate in the fast. Baha'is can vote in Baha'i elections once they turn 18 (recently changed from 21).

Effects

• End of the parental authority and guardianship (in some legal systems it causes the pre-end of said institutions).
• Right to be considered legally capable.
• Right to freely manage and dispose of their goods, buy and sell properties and sign rental contracts.
• Right to inherit, manage the inheritance and, in countries where testaments exist, the possibility of testament.
• Right to receive bank credits and have bank accounts.
• Right to demand public authority.
• Possibility of being sued for not paying debts or other contracts.
• Possibility of being a member of the jury (in countries where trials use a jury).
• Possibility of being sued for child support and medical bills due to the birth of a child.

In some countries, reaching the age of majority carries other rights and obligations, although in other countries, these rights and obligations may be had before or after reaching the aforementioned age.

• Right to vote and to run for government office: although in some countries the minimum voting age may be lower and in other countries there are age restrictions to be elected to certain public offices.
• Right to drive a car: it may vary in some countries with respect to the age of majority.
• Right to drink alcoholic drinks and to smoke tobacco or marijuana: In some countries, the legal drinking age and the smoking age differ from the age of adulthood.
• Right to buy and possess firearms or guns.
• Right to work, pursue trade, profession or industry: may vary in some countries with respect to the age of majority.
• Right to freely leave the country (in some European countries like Italy, minors can leave the country unimpeded).
• In trials, the possibility of being treated as an adult, found guilty and sentenced to prison or being executed (in retentionist jurisdictions): It may vary in some countries with respect to the age of majority.

Notes

References

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