Age

Years of life; that period of life at which the law allows persons to do acts or discharge functions which, for want of years, they were prohibited from doing or undertaking before. At Common Law. Males, before fourteen, are said not to be of discretion; at that agei they may consent to marriage, and choose a guardian. Twenty-one years is full age for all private purposes, and they may then exercise their rights as citizens by voting for public officers, and are eligible to all offices, unless otherwise provided for in the constitution. Females, at twelve, arrive at years of discretion, and • may consent to marriage; at fourteen, they may choose a guardian; and twenty-one as in males is full age, when they may exercise all the rights which be-

In French Law

A person must have attained the age of forty to be a member of the legislative body; twenty- five, to be a judge of a tribunal de premiere instance; twenty-seven to be its president, or to be judge or clerk of a cour royale; thirty, to be its president or procureur-general; twenty-five, to be a justice of the peace; thirty, to be a judge of a tribunal of commerce, and thirty-five to be its president; twenty-five to be a notary public; twentyone, to be a testamentary witness; thirty, to be a juror. At sixteen, a minor may devise one-half of his property as if he were a major. A male cannot contract marriage till after the eighteenth year, nor a female before full fifteen years. At twenty-on^ both males and females are capable to perform all the acts of civil life. Tou Uier, Dr. Civ. liv.

1, Introd. note 188.

In Roman Law. Infancy (infantia) extended to the age of seven; the period of childhood {pueritia), which extended from seven to fourteen, was divided into two periods, — ^the first, extending from seven to ten and a half, was called the period nearest childhood (aetas infantiae proxima); the other from ten and a half to fourteen, the period nearest puberty {aetas pubertati proxima); puberty (pubertas) extended from fourteen to eighteen; full puberty extended from eighteen to twenty-five; at twenty-five, the person was of legal age (aetas legitima), sometimes expressed as full age (aetas perfecta).

See Tayl. Civ. Law, 254; Lee. Elem. Civ. 22.