Age of majority

The age at which a person is legally recognized as an adult, generally gaining adult rights and responsibilities. It varies by jurisdiction and may differ from ages set for particular activities.

Legal capacity: The ability to hold legal rights and duties and to perform legally effective acts. The age of majority generally marks when a person gains broad capacity to act independently in law.
Age of consent: The minimum age at which a person can legally consent to specified sexual activity. It is a separate legal threshold and may not coincide with majority.
Age of majority in the United States: The age at which state law generally recognizes a person as an adult in the United States. Most states set majority at 18, while some legal rules use different thresholds.
Minor (law): A person who has not reached the age of majority under the applicable law. Minor status is the legal condition that the majority threshold ends.
Children’s rights: The human rights and legal protections held by children, including rights to protection, participation, and development. Rules about majority determine when many protections and forms of participation change.
Emancipation of minors: A legal process that gives a minor some or all of the rights and responsibilities of adulthood before majority. It can confer adult-like legal independence before the ordinary age threshold.
Minimum age: The lowest age permitted or required for a specified activity, status, or legal decision. The age of majority is one general threshold among many age-based legal rules.
Age of majority in England and Wales: The age at which a person becomes an adult under the law of England and Wales. The threshold is 18, with particular rights and restrictions governed by separate laws.
Civil law (legal system): A legal tradition based primarily on codified statutes and comprehensive written rules. Civil-law systems define majority through statutory rules and related civil capacity.
Gillick competence: A principle in English law allowing some minors to consent to medical treatment when sufficiently mature to understand it. It recognizes decision-making ability before the general age of majority.

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