The age of majority, also known as legal age, is the threshold of legal adulthood as recognized or declared in law.[1] It is the moment when a person ceases to be considered a minor and assumes legal control over their person, actions, and decisions, thus terminating the control and legal responsibilities of their parents or guardian over them. Most countries set the age of majority at 18, but some jurisdictions have a higher age and others lower. The word majority here refers to having greater years and being of full age as opposed to minority, the state of being a minor. The law in a given jurisdiction may not actually use the term "age of majority".
The term typically refers to a collection of laws bestowing the status of adulthood. Those under the age of majority are referred to as minors and are legally forbidden from enjoying certain privileges or rights (e.g. the right to vote, buy and/or drink alcohol, marry, sign a binding contract). However, there are exceptions in which those who have reached the age of majority can be referred to as minors. For example, if a country's age of majority is 18, but the legal drinking age is 21, then a 20 year old would still be considered a "minor" in situations involving buying or consuming alcohol. Another example is the age to consent to sexual activity, which in most of the cases in the world is under the age of majority. In other cases, it can be above the age of majority, and in that case the younger part, despite having already reached the legal adulthood, would be still referred to as minor or underage to consent to sexual activity.[2] [3] [4]
If a minor attempts to use adult privileges without being of age, they have committed a crime. Therefore, they could be prosecuted as a criminal and sentenced to fines or, more rarely, incarceration.
Age of majority should not be confused with the age of maturity, age of sexual consent, age of criminal responsibility, marriageable age, school-leaving age, legal working age, drinking age, driving age, voting age, smoking age, gambling age, etc., which each may be independent of and set at a different age from the age of majority.
The term "age of majority" can be confused with the similar concept of the age of license,[5] which also pertains to the threshold of adulthood but in a much broader and more abstract manner. As a legal term of art, "license" means "permission", which leads to implications of a legally enforceable right or privilege. Thus, an age of license is an age at which one has legal permission from a given government to participate in certain activities or rituals. The age of majority, on the other hand, is a legal recognition that one is gradually becoming an adult, not necessarily stating that one is legally allowed to partake in any or all activities specified for adults.[6]
Many ages of license are correlated to 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 current age of majority is 18 in most states.[7] In the Republic of Ireland the age of majority is 18, but one must be over 21 to stand for election to the Houses of the Oireachtas.[8] Also, in Portugal the age of majority is 18, but one must be at least 25 years of age to run for public office and 35 to run for president.[9] 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.[10] 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 age 18 is identified as the age of adulthood in the Jewish Talmud relative to having sound judgement to make monetary decisions as a judge.[11] Here, the Talmud says that every judgment Josiah, the sixteenth king of Judah (–609 BCE), 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.[12]
The highest known age of majority historically was around age 30, during the age of the Roman Empire, where young males were placed under the guardianship of adults known as "Curatores" whose permission was needed to engage in formal acts and sign contracts until the youth turned 30. This was later lowered down to 25, and eventually 21 became the common age of majority. In some places historically, 23 or 27 could have also been this age.[13] It has also gone down to as low as 14 or 15 years of age. They are somewhat arbitrarily chosen, but have rarely been designated outside of this approximate age range. It has not always been 18 or 21 but rather a variety of ages. In Medieval England, the age of majority was 15 but further raised to 21.[14] [15] [16]
Since 2015, some countries have started to lower the voting age to 16.[17] [18] Some countries, like England and Wales, are even considering lowering the age of majority to 16,[19] similar to how it already is in Cuba. The main arguments for lowering is that, on average, young people are much more educated currently (both because of better individual educational outcomes and being raised by more educated parents) than in the past (the same argument made in the 1970s when most countries lowered the age of majority from 21 to 18, which is the age still used presently for most countries).[20] In addition, compared to the past, nowadays information is much more easily accessible as a result of the invention of the Internet, which can now be accessed through both a computer and also a 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.[21]
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.[22]
The following list the age of majority in countries (or administrative divisions) in the order of lowest to highest:
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:
Different Islamic fiqh schools have different criteria for adulthood. In general, males are considered adults when they have manifested specific physical attributes such as nocturnal emission and growth of pubic hair. Females are considered adults when they manifest physical attributes such as menstruation, growth of pubic hair, and nocturnal emission. However, in the absence of these physical attributes in either male or female, different schools of fiqh have different rulings on the age limit after which the male or female are considered adults even if they do not manifest any of the physical attributes earlier mentioned. Some schools rule based on the limit being 18 years for both males and females, some 18 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.
The age of majority is 13 years for boys (bar mitzvah) and 12 years for girls (bat mitzvah) for religious purposes.[37] However, Jewish law follows (according to some interpretations) the law of the land if there is a difference, such as in marriage age.
The spiritual age of maturity for every person born into a Baháʼí family is 15. At 15, 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.[39] Baha'is can vote in Baha'i elections once they turn 18 (recently changed from 21).[40]
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.