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their contracts. The court has established specific standards regardingwho is considered a minor and what is meant by the term minority.State laws protectminors by providing thatstatutes of limitationsdo not begin runninguntil plaintiffs who areminors attain majority,which is the day beforetheir 18th birthday.Definition of MinorityA person who has not yet reached the age of legal adulthood, knownas the age of majority , is considered a minor . Sometimes we say thata person below the age of majority is still in his or her minority .Legal Age In 1972, when the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18,most states also lowered the age of majority from 21 to 18. For manyyears following this change, the age of majority and the age at whichyoung people could purchase alcoholic beverages were the same. Now,however, most states have revised this policy. The age of majorityremains 18 nationwide, but most states have raised the legal drinking ageto 21.For legal purposes, people reach a particular age at the beginning ofthe day before their birthday. The reason is that the date of a person’sbirth is counted as the first day of his or her life; the law does not considerfractions of a day. As a result, on a person’s eighteenth birthday,that person is considered 18 years and 1 day old.Emancipation and Abandonment Some states have declared thatminors who are no longer under the control of their parents areemancipated . This means that they are responsible for their contracts.A minor who marries or leaves home, giving up all rights to parentalsupport, is considered emancipated. Such individuals are said to haveabandoned the protection afforded them as minors. Although emancipatedminors are fully responsible for their own contracts, manyEMANCIPATIONMinors who are no longerunder parental control areemancipated. Why doesthe law withdraw the rightto disaffirm contracts fromemancipated minors?148 Unit 2: Entering Into Contracts