On this subject, I strongly recommend that everybody read the pertinent
sections of Holly Brewer's book, By Birth or Consent: Children, Law, and
the Anglo-American Revolution in Authority (Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press for the Omohundro Institute of Early American
History and Culture, 2005). If it is not in your local library, you can
almost certainly obtain it through Interlibrary Loan.
 
In short, age of consent changed as time passed and varied depending on
what was being consented to. Jury service, for instances was initially
confined to people older than fourteen, if I recall correctly.
 
Brent Tarter
The Library of Virginia
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Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
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