Legal Conventions
In most legal systems, one becomes designated as an adult on a particular birthday (often between 14 and 21), and reaching age-specific milestones confers particular rights and responsibilities. At certain ages, one may become subject to military conscription or become eligible to enlist in the military, to marry without parental consent, to vote, to run for elected office, to legally purchase (or consume) alcohol and tobacco products, to purchase lottery tickets, or to obtain a driver's license.
Read more about this topic: Birth Date
Famous quotes containing the words legal and/or conventions:
“In ‘70 he married again, and I having, voluntarily, assumed the legal guilt of breaking my marriage contract, do cheerfully accept the legal penalty—a life of celibacy—bringing no charge against him who was my husband, save that he was not much better than the average man.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“What people don’t realize is that intimacy has its conventions as well as ordinary social intercourse. There are three cardinal rules—don’t take somebody else’s boyfriend unless you’ve been specifically invited to do so, don’t take a drink without being asked, and keep a scrupulous accounting in financial matters.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)