A person reached an age of consent, or ceased being legally an "infant," for different purposes at different times during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Carefully read the relevant laws (Hening's Statutes at Large contains most of them) and also consult Holly Brewer's fairly recent book that traces the development of the legal concept of consent, and therefore of legal responsibility, through the period.
Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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Please visit the Library of Virginia's web site at http://www.lva.virginia.gov
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From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of John Cullom Sr. [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2014 7:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Age of majority, 1750-1775
----- Original Message -----
From: "Martha Katz-Hyman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, October 9, 2014 11:57:02 AM
Subject: Age of majority, 1750-1775
My questions:
1) What was the age of majority in Virginia for both genders in the third
quarter of the eighteenth century?
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For what it is worth this is something I wrote about 15 years ago in one of my family histories:
“In English law, which was the law of the Colonies, an “enfant”, i.e., a minor, or person under 21, could engage in legal transactions concerning his own personal property or welfare, but could not engage in any other transactions. Since being a witness is a legal activity not of his own business, Thomas must have been at least 21 in 1733,----“
William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1979), 1:452-454…”It is generally true, that an infant can neither alien his lands, nor do any legal act, nor make a deed, nor indeed any manner of contract, that will bind him. Also it is generally true, that an infant can do no legal act. An infant may also purchase lands, but his purchase is incomplete: for when he comes of age, he may agree or disagree to it…yet he may bind himself apprentice by deed indented, or indentures, for seven years…”
John Cullom, Westminster, MD, USA
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