INFANT

In Law, a person under twenty-one years of age. He is not considered in law as having sufficient ability to contract, and is protected from his own improvidence and the artifices of designing persons by his not being liable for any engagements into which he may have entered, except for nece aries suited to his condition in life. His contracts, however, are not absolutely void, but only voidable; and though they cannot be enforced against him, yet he may, if he do not choose to avoid them, enforce them against another, and may ^ways confirm them on the termination of his minority. He is in general responsible in damages for torts committed by him, as for slander or a ault. His responsibility for crimes varies according to his age and discretion: under seven years of fige he cannot be guilty of felony; between seven and fourteen a presumption arises that he is dol i incapax; but this presumption may be repelled by proof that he could plainly distinguish between good and evil, and he may then suffer death as a felon; and fifter fourteen he is in general as amenable to punishment as a person of full age. His disabilities, many of which are in the nature of privileges, and established for his protection, are numerous: he cannot fill any office connected with the administration of justice, or sit in parliament; he cannot be an executor, nor appear in court by attorney. The consent of parents or guardians, or of the Court of Chancery, is requisite to his marriage. INFANTE, [s. 610]