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AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969

AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - LONG TITLE

An Act to amend the law relating to the age of majority, to
persons who have not attained that age and to the time when a
particular age is attained; and for connected purposes.
[3rd December 1969]
Reduction of age of majority from 21 to 18.

AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 1

1.(1) As from the date on which this section comes into force a
person shall attain full age on attaining the age of eighteen years
instead of on attaining the age of twenty-one years; and a person
shall attain full age on that date if he has then already attained
the age of eighteen years but not the age of twenty-one years.

(2) Subject to subsection (4), subsection (1) applies for the
purposes of any rule of law and, in the absence of a definition
or of any indication of a contrary intention, for the construction
of "full age", "infant", "infancy", "minor", "minority" and similar
expressions in

(a)any statutory provision, whether passed or made before, on or
after the date on which this section comes into force; and

(b)any deed, will or other instrument of whatever nature (not being
a statutory provision) made on or after that date.

(3) In the statutory provisions specified in Schedule 1, for any
reference to the age of twenty-one years there shall be substituted
a reference to the age of eighteen years; but the amendment by
this subsection of the provisions specified in Part II of that
Schedule shall be without prejudice to any power of amending or
revoking those provisions.

(4) This section does not affect the construction of any such
expression as is referred to in subsection (2) in any of the
statutory provisions described in Schedule 2.

(5) Notwithstanding any rule of law, a will or codicil executed
before the date on which this section comes into force shall not
be treated for the purposes of this section as made on or after
that date by reason only that the will or codicil is confirmed by
a codicil executed on or after that date.

(6) The Governor may by Order in Council amend any statutory
provision (not being a statutory provision described in Schedule 2),
passed on or before the date on which this section comes into
force, by substituting for any reference therein to the age of
twenty-one years, a reference to the age of eighteen years; but the
Governor shall not be advised to make any such order unless a
draft thereof has been laid before Parliament and approved by a
resolution of each House of Parliament.

(7) The transitional provisions and savings contained in Schedule 3
shall have effect in relation to this section.

AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 2
Provisions relating to wills.

2.(1) In the following statutory provisions, that is to say

(a)section 7 of the Wills Act 1837 (invalidity of wills made by
persons under 21);

(b)sections 1 and 3(1) of the Wills (Soldiers and Sailors) Act 1918
(validity of testamentary dispositions by soldiers etc., under 21);

(2) Any will which

(a)has been made, whether before or after the coming into force of
this section, by a person under the age of eighteen years; and

(b)is valid by virtue of section 11 of the said Act of 1837, and
the said Act of 1918,

(3) In this section "will" has the same meaning as in the said
Act of 1837.

S.3 rep. by 1978 NI 15 art.63 sch.5; 1979 NI 8 art.28 sch.

AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 4
Consent by persons over 16 to surgical, medical and dental
treatment.

4.(1) The consent of a minor who has attained the age of sixteen
years to any surgical, medical or dental treatment which, in the
absence of consent, would constitute a trespass to his person, shall
be as effective as it would be if he were of full age; and where
a minor has by virtue of this section given an effective consent
to any treatment it shall not be necessary to obtain any consent
for it from his parent or guardian.

(2) In this section "surgical, medical or dental treatment" includes
any procedure undertaken for the purposes of diagnosis, and this
section applies to any procedure (including, in particular, the
administration of an anaesthetic) which is ancillary to any treatment
as it applies to that treatment.

(3) Nothing in this section shall be construed as making ineffective
any consent which would have been effective if this section had not
been enacted.

AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 5
Time at which a person attains a particular age.

5.(1) The time at which a person attains a particular age expressed
in years shall be the commencement of the relevant anniversary of
the date of his birth.

(2) This section applies only where the relevant anniversary falls
on a date after that on which this section comes into force, and,
in relation to any statutory provision, deed, will, or other
instrument, has effect subject to any provision therein.

S.6 repeals 1855 c.43; 1860 c.83; s.6(pt.) of 1875 c.90; s.2(3) of
1907 c.18

AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 7
Persons under full age may be described as minors.

7. A person who is not of full age may be described as a minor
instead of as an infant, and accordingly in this Act "minor" means
such a person as aforesaid.

AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 8
Meaning of ""statutory provision'' in this Act.

8. In this Act, the expression "statutory provision" has the same
meaning as in section 1(f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern
Ireland) 1954.

AGE OF MAJORITY ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 9
Short title and commencement.

9. This Act may be cited as the Age of Majority Act (Northern
Ireland) 1969 ... Commencement ...

Schedule 1Amendments

1. The Regency Acts 1937 to 1953.

2. The Representation of the People Acts and any regulations, rules
or other instruments made thereunder, and section 7 of the
Parliamentary Elections Act 1695.

3. The Electoral Law Acts (Northern Ireland) 1962 and 1968 and any
regulations, rules or other instruments made thereunder and Article
12(4)(a) of the Local Government (Adaptation of Enactments) Order
1898.

4. Section 18 of the Coroners Act (Northern Ireland) 1959 and any
regulations, rules or other instruments made thereunder.

1.(1) In this Schedule "the commencement date" means the date on
which section 1 comes into force.

(2) Section 1(5) shall apply for the purposes of this Schedule as
it applies for the purposes of that section.

2. Any order or directions in force immediately before the
commencement date by virtue of any rules of court or other
statutory provision (including in particular, section 99 of the
County Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 1959) relating to the control
of money in any way recovered or awarded or adjudged, ordered or
agreed to be payable in respect of the claims of an infant, shall
have effect as if any reference therein to the infant's attaining
the age of twenty-one years were a reference to his attaining the
age of eighteen years or, in relation to a person who by virtue
of section 1 attains full age on the commencement date, to that
date.

3.(1) Any order in force immediately before the commencement date

(a)making a person a ward of court; or

(b)otherwise providing for the custody of, or access to, any person,

(2) This paragraph is without prejudice to so much of any order as
makes provision for the maintenance or education of a person after
he has attained the age of eighteen years.

4. Section 1 of this Act shall not prevent the making of an
adoption order or provisional adoption order under the Adoption Act
(Northern Ireland) 1967 in respect of a person who has attained the
age of eighteen years, if the application for the order was made
before the commencement date, and in relation to any such case,
that Act shall have effect as if section 1 of this Act had not
been enacted.

5.(1) Section 1 of this Act shall not affect section 32 of the
Trustee Act (Northern Ireland) 1958 in its application to any
interest under an instrument made before the commencement date.

(2) In any case in which (whether by virtue of this paragraph or
paragraph 9 of this Schedule) trustees have power under subsection
(1)(a) of the said section 32 to pay income to the parent or
guardian of any person who has attained the age of eighteen years,
or to apply it for or towards the maintenance, education or benefit
of any such person, they shall also have power to pay it to that
person himself.

6. In the case of a beneficiary whose interest arises under a will
or codicil made before the commencement date or on the death before
that date of an intestate, section 1 of this Act shall not affect
the meaning of "infant" in section 38 of the Administration of
Estates Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 and the words "twenty-one" in
subsection (5) of the said section 38 shall have effect as if that
section had not been included in Schedule 1 to this Act.

7. The change, by virtue of section 1 of this Act, in the
construction of section 1 of the Accumulations Act 1892 (which lays
down the permissible period for the accumulation of income for the
purchase of land under settlements and other dispositions) shall not
invalidate any direction for accumulation in a settlement or other
disposition made by a deed, will or other instrument which was made
before the commencement date.

8. The change, by virtue of section 1 of this Act, in the
construction of section 49(1) of the Statute of Limitations (Northern
Ireland) 1958 (limitation in case of a person under disability)
shall not affect the time for bringing proceedings in respect of a
cause of action which arose before the commencement date.

9. Section 1 of this Act shall not affect the construction of any
statutory provision where it is incorporated in and has effect as
part of any deed, will or other instrument the construction of
which is not affected by that section.