Age of majority

The age of majority is the legal threshold of which a person is legally declared as an adult. It is the moment when a person ceases to be considered a minor and assumes legal control over their person, actions, and decisions, thus terminating the control and legal responsibilities of their parents or guardian over them, having gained the rights to be able to vote in elections, to buy tobacco and cigarettes and get a tattoo. Most countries set the age of majority at 18, but some jurisdictions have a higher or lower age than others.

Although easily confounded with one another, the age of majority is not the same as the age of consent and often does not align with other legal ages, such as the legal drinking age. For example, this means that an 18-year-old in the U.S. can vote and sign contracts but cannot legally purchase alcohol.

Historical age of majority

Variations in the age of the sovereign's majority could be found as in the case of the majority of others. The King of Denmark came of age at fourteen, according to Lacombein his history of the ancient kings of the northern European countries. This custom would be referable to a period prior to the tenth century. "At that age the King would declare publicly that he wished no longer to have the services of a tutor." 3 Gothic kings seem frequently to have come of age at fifteen, for example Childebert II in 585 A.D. The aristocracy would have been influenced by the royal example; but, inevitably, the qualifications for majority were different. Thus, in his Memoirs of Ancient Chivalry, St. Palaye records that the minority of the nobles in France ended at seventeen, "because they were then judged strong enough and sufficiently qualified for the culture of their lands, the mechanic arts and commerce in which they were all employed." (T. E. James)