Canada For all provincial laws, the provincial and territorial governments have the power to set the age of majority in their respective province or territory, and the age varies across
Canada, with some provinces setting the (baseline) age of majority at 18 and others at 19. In some territories a person can emancipate, and assume full responsibility from the age of 16. In
Alberta,
Manitoba,
Ontario,
Quebec,
Saskatchewan, and
Prince Edward Island the (baseline) age of majority is set at 18, while in
British Columbia,
Yukon, the
Northwest Territories,
Nunavut,
Newfoundland,
Nova Scotia, and
New Brunswick the age of majority is 19. In the provinces of
Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, the legal gambling age and the legal drinking age are both 19, while in Alberta, Quebec, and Manitoba it is 18 which is the age of majority. Under cannabis laws, a minor means anyone under 19 in the country except for Quebec which has a legal age of 21, and Alberta which is age 18.
Italy In
Italy, law nr. 39 of March 8, 1975, states that a minor is a person under the age of 18. Citizens under the age of 18 may not vote, be elected, obtain a driving license for automobiles or issue or sign
legal instruments. Crimes committed in Italy by minors are tried in a juvenile court.
Mexico In all 31 states, a minor is referred to as someone under the age of 18. Minors aged 16 or 17 who are charged with crimes could sometimes be treated as an adult.
India In all 28
states and 8
union territories, a minor is referred to as someone under the age of 18. In rare cases minors aged 16 or 17 who are charged with extremely heinous crimes could sometimes be treated as an adult.
Thailand The Civil and Commercial Code of the Kingdom of Thailand does not define
minor; however, sections 19 and 20 read as follows: •
Section 19 – A person, on completion of 20 years of age, ceases to be a minor and becomes
sui juris. •
Section 20 – A minor becomes
sui juris upon marriage, provided the marriage is made in accordance with the provisions of Section 1448. Hence, a minor in Thailand refers to any person under the age of 20, unless they are married. A minor is restricted from doing juristic actsfor example, signing contracts. When minors wish to do a juristic act, they have to obtain the consent from their legal representative, usually (but not always) the parents and otherwise the act is voidable. The exceptions are acts by which a minor merely acquires a right or is freed from a duty, acts that are strictly personal, and acts that are suitable to the person's condition in life and are required for their reasonable needs. A minor can make a
will at the age of fifteen.
South Korea In South Korea, the legal definition of a minor is a case of
Galápagos syndrome. In South Korea's civil code, anyone over 19 years old (international age) is considered an adult, and 18-year-old is legally considered a minor. However, even if a person is 18 years old, if he or she reached 1 January of the year he or she turn 19, he or she is allowed to drink, smoke, and access adult content. According to the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses (아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률), the definition of a child is under
19 (international age, not so-called
Korean age) years of age. Therefore, the legal definition of child sexual abuse material (also known as
child pornography) in South Korea is "anything featuring persons under the age of 19". Therefore, pornography featuring an 18-year-old person (including high school graduates) is classified as child pornography in South Korea, even making possession and viewing illegal, unlike other countries. In countries where 18 is not the
age of majority, except for South Korea, the definition of child pornography is "anything that features a person under the age of 18". (example:
United Arab Emirates)
United Kingdom In
England and Wales, the
Family Law Reform Act 1969 set the age of majority in both nations at
18. While in
Northern Ireland, the age of majority is set at
18 by the Age of Majority Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 - (which directly corresponds to the former legislation, enacted in England and Wales). In
Scotland, the
Age of Legal Capacity (Scotland) Act 1991 sets out that the legal age of capacity within the country is
16. The (minimum) age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland is 10. Sentencing guidelines in these three jurisdictions is often tiered, so that a person who is over the age of criminal responsibility (but not of full age), will receive more lenient treatment depending on how old said person is (so for example, punishment will differ between an offender who is under 12, under 14, or under 16, at the time of a given offence, for example, with harsher punishments being received the higher the age of the offender in question). In Scotland, the (minimum) age of criminal responsibility is 12. Things that persons under 18 are prohibited from doing include sitting on a jury, standing as a candidate, buying or renting films with an
18 or
R18 classification or seeing them in a cinema, suing without a litigant friend, and purchasing alcohol, or tobacco products. Driving certain large vehicles, acting as personal license holder for licensed premises, and adopting a child are permitted only upon the age of 21. The minimum age to drive a HGV1 vehicle was reduced to 18. However, certain vehicles, e.g.,
steamrollers, require that someone be 21 years of age to obtain an operating license.
United States In the United States as of 1971,
minor is generally legally defined as a person under the age of 18. The twenty-sixth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1971, granted all citizens the right to vote in every state, in every election, from the age of 18, reducing the minimum ages for most privileges that had previously been set at 21 (signing contracts, marrying without parental consent, termination of legal parental custody) to 18. Under this distinction, those considered juveniles are usually (but not always) tried in
juvenile court, and they may be afforded other special protections. For example, in some states a parent or guardian must be present during police questioning, or their names may be kept confidential when they are accused of a crime. For many crimes (especially more violent crimes), the age at which a minor may be tried as an adult is variable below the age of 18 or (less often) below 16. The
death penalty in the United States for those who have committed a crime while under the age of 18 was discontinued by the
U.S. Supreme Court case
Roper v. Simmons in 2005. The court's 5–4 decision was written by Justice Kennedy and joined by Justices Ginsburg, Stevens, Breyer, and Souter, and cited international law, child developmental science, and many other factors in reaching its conclusion. However, not all minors are considered juveniles in terms of criminal responsibility. As is frequently the case in the United States, the laws vary widely by state. Some states, including
Florida, have passed laws that allow a person accused of certain crimes, such as murder, to be tried as an adult, regardless of age. These laws have been challenged by the
American Civil Liberties Union. An estimated 250,000 youth are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults every year across the United States.
Medical Whether an adolescent is able to provide consent for medical care and services depends upon whether they are considered
emancipated minor,
medically emancipated, or
mature minors. This also varies from state to state. Marriage, military service, or living separately from parents and managing one's own financial affairs usually mean emancipation.
Drinking and gambling The
legal drinking age was raised to 21 around the 1980s due to teen
drunk driving cases protested by the
Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The
gambling age varies by state. So, in the context of
alcohol or
gambling, people under the age of 21 may also sometimes be referred to as minors. In any event, they separated only three of more than a dozen detainees under 16 from the adult prison population. Several dozen detainees between sixteen and eighteen were detained with the adult prison population. Now those under 18 are kept separate, in line with the age of majority and world expectations. ==Emancipation of minors==