Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 8.djvu/441

11 S. VII. 31, 1913.]

This points to an early establishment of 21 as the age of maturity, but in Saxon England, a boy was of age when much younger. According to the earlier laws, his capability of bearing arms and managing his property began in his tenth year, but in the time of Æthelstan 12 was the age. By the Salic law 12 was fixed as the age of responsibility. This premature ending of the period of nonage accounts for the early accession of Edward, the Martyr, who was crowned in his thirteenth year. According to Grimm's 'Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer,' the beginning of the thirteenth year was the universal Germanic majority.

Blackstone tells us that the king in judgment of law can never be a minor, and therefore his royal grants and assents to Acts of Parliament are good, though he has not in his natural capacity attained the legal age of 21. Power was given by a statute, 28 Hen. VIII. c. 17. to rescind and revoke all Acts of Parliament that should be made by future kings before they attained the age of 24; but this was repealed by 1 Edw. VI. c. 11. so far as related to that prince, and both statutes were determined by 24 Geo. II. c. 24. When a king is crowned under the age of 18, it is usual to appoint a protector until he attains that age. The Pope declared Henry III. of full age at 17, and he confirmed the Great Charter at 18, and undertook the administration of the Government at 20. Richard II. and Henry VI. were under the guardianship of protectors till they attained the age of 23. Statutes of Henry VIII. provided guardianship for successors to the crown, in the case of males to the age of 18, and in the case of females to the age of 16.

The Marriage Act of 1772 called forth a good deal of ridicule respecting the difference in age required by that Act for marriage of members of the royal family from that at which an heir apparent could rule. The following is a fair specimen of these jeux d'esprit:—

The Introduction to 'The Law and Practice relating to Infants,' by A. H. Simpson, 3rd ed., 1909, traces the history of the age of majority being fixed at twenty-one years, and gives numerous references on the subject.

(11 S. vii. 328).—At 8 S. vii. 388 the late W. C. B. had a query on this subject, which elicited no reply, beyond an editorial note attributing the Work to S. J. Brown. This was, doubtless, on the authority of Halkett and Laing, or the B.M. Catalogue. I have tried in vain to find out anything about S. J. Brown. At p. 391 was a reference to an earlier 'Pax Vobis' (1641, 4to), by Thomas Warmstrey, D.D. I have a cutting from a catalogue attributing the little work to Bishop Edmund Gibson, but this is a mere conjecture made to fit the initials on the title-page, and cannot be correct, as the Bishop was only 16 years old when 'Pax Vobis' appeared. Another extract states that,

The first edition is dated 1685, and the fourth 1687, so that it must have been in considerable demand. In the latter year appeared 'Some Dialogues, with Reflections