Age of majority


The age of majority is the legal age of adulthood as declared in law. It is the moment when a person ceases to be considered a minor, and assumes legal control over their person, actions, and decisions, gaining rights denied to them prior to that moment, while also terminating the rights a parent has 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 refers to a collection of laws bestowing the status of adulthood.

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 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 than in the past. 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 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • *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
  • Samoa
  • Singapore
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United States
  • *Mississippi
  • *Puerto Rico
  • Zambia