Posted on 06/22/2014 9:32:21 AM PDT by right-wing agnostic
An odd fact: Under the common law, as reported by Blackstone’s Commentaries:
[F]ull age in male or female is twenty one years, which age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of a person’s birth.
And here is the explanation from Edward Christian, who edited the 1803 edition of Blackstone,
If he is born on the 1st of January, he is of age to do any legal act on the morning of the last day of December, though he may not have lived twenty-one years by nearly forty-eight hours: the reason assigned is, that in law there is no fraction of a day; and if the birth were on the first second of one day, and the act on the last second of the other, then twenty-one years would be complete
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
/rwa
So, someone born on 6/23/1993 can go to a bar today and expect to be admitted and served. I’d like to see you that. “But, but Blackstone’s Commentaries on common law say...”
;)
Crikey! Just what I don’t need: something that makes me even older sooner!
I heard that bars in a nearby town accept this and will serve someone the day before their 21st bday.
It DEFINITELY works when a 17 yr old wants to register as a Democrat voter.
It doesn’t actually make you older, it makes you “legal” sooner! Two birthdays a year - great for the kids. For the adults, not so much ;)
I assume Benjamin Franklin’s common-law wife celebrated common-law birthdays.
Makes my birthday come sooner; that makes me older sooner. ;-)
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