Also known as: infancy defence · defense of infancy · defence of infancy · infant defense · minority defense
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A doctrine allowing a minor to avoid contractual obligations by disaffirming the agreement. The rule protects individuals under the age of majority from their own immaturity and from overreaching by adults. Disaffirmance renders the contract voidable at the minor's election, subject to limited exceptions such as contracts for necessaries.
A doctrine allowing a minor to avoid contractual obligations by disaffirming the agreement. The rule protects individuals under the age of majority from their own immaturity and from overreaching by adults. Disaffirmance renders the contract voidable at the minor's election, subject to limited exceptions such as contracts for necessaries.
Imani Idowu, age sixteen, signed a retail installment contract with Imperial Motors to buy a used sports car and falsely stated she was eighteen. After an accident damaged the vehicle she notified the dealer of her true age and demanded to rescind the agreement and recover her payments. Because she remained a minor at contracting, her timely disaffirmance prevents enforcement of the installment obligation.
A defense barring criminal liability for children below a specified age based on their physical age at the time of the offense. At common law children under seven lack capacity conclusively, those between seven and fourteen are rebuttably presumed incapable, and those fourteen and older are treated as adults.
Physical age at the time of the alleged offense controls. Mental age and age at trial are irrelevant under the common-law formulation.
A defense barring criminal liability for children below a specified age based on their physical age at the time of the offense. At common law children under seven lack capacity conclusively, those between seven and fourteen are rebuttably presumed incapable, and those fourteen and older are treated as adults.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Ira Irving, age seventeen, opened a margin trading account with Inertia Dynamics by checking an electronic box affirming he was over eighteen. After incurring substantial losses he refused payment and asserted his minority. His status as a minor at the time of the electronic agreement allows him to disaffirm and avoid liability for the debit balance.
No. At common law the minor's power to disaffirm exists even when the minor lied about age to induce the transaction. The protection belongs to the minor alone and is not lost by the misrepresentation.
No. The defense is preserved if the minor disaffirms while still under the age of majority or within a reasonable time after reaching majority. Assertion when the adult party first seeks enforcement is timely.
No. The rule applies a bright-line age test and does not turn on case-by-case assessments of the minor's maturity, participation in negotiations, or apparent understanding of the terms.
No. The power to disaffirm belongs exclusively to the minor. The adult counterparty has no corresponding right to avoid the agreement on grounds of the other party's minority.
…R. Smith. They further alleged that since $794.62 of the amount involved represented necessaries of life for the plaintiffs the defense of infancy was not available, and that since $1,655.61 of the amount was procured by artifice, fraud, and deceit of Ralph Smith he is estopped from asserting the defense of infancy. By the answer it…