Judges sometimes honored marriages based on mutual consent at ages younger than seven: in contrast to established canon, there are recorded marriages of two- and three-year-olds. Marriage would then be valid as long as neither of the two parties annulled the marital agreement before reaching puberty, or if they had already consummated the marriage. There were authorities that said that such consent for entering marriage could take place earlier. In the 12th century, Gratian, the influential compiler of canon law in medieval Europe, accepted the age of puberty for marriage (not sex) to be around twelve for girls and around fourteen for boys but acknowledged consent to be meaningful if both children were older than seven years of age. Modern historians have sometimes shown reluctance to accept evidence of young ages of marriage, dismissing it as a 'misreading' by a later copier of the records.
Not only were the records relatively rare, but not all bothered to record the participants' ages, and it seems that the more complete the records are, the more likely they are to reveal young marriages. In England, for example, the only reliable data in the early modern period comes from property records made after death.
Reliable data for ages at marriage is scarce. In most cases, this coincided with signs of puberty, menstruation for a woman, and pubic hair for a man. In traditional societies, the age of consent for a sexual union was a matter for the family to decide, or a tribal custom. History and social attitudes Traditional attitudes Must be married no data available / other Africa Canada, Brazil, India and Russia) are presented without internal federative divisions. Federal states in which all federative units adopt the same age of consent (e.g. Australia, Mexico and the United States are federal states where the age of consent varies from federative unit to federative unit. Īge of consent for heterosexual sex in various countries.
These factors all make age of consent an often confusing subject and a topic of highly charged debates. There are many "grey areas" in this area of law, some regarding unspecific and untried legislation, others brought about by debates regarding changing societal attitudes, and others due to conflicts between federal and state laws. Charges and penalties resulting from a breach of these laws may range from a misdemeanor, such as corruption of a minor, to what is popularly called statutory rape. The laws may also vary by the type of sexual act, the gender of the participants or other considerations, such as involving a position of trust some jurisdictions may also make allowances for minors engaged in sexual acts with each other, rather than a single age. It should not be confused with other laws regarding age minimums including, but not limited to, the age of majority, age of criminal responsibility, voting age, drinking age, and driving age.Īge of consent laws vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, though most jurisdictions set the age of consent in the range 14 to 18. It has sometimes been used with other meanings, such as the age at which a person becomes competent to consent to marriage, but the meaning given above is the one now generally understood. : 1–2 Generally, a law will establish the age below which it is illegal to engage in sexual activity with that person. The term age of consent typically does not appear in legal statutes.
One purpose of setting an age of consent is to protect an underage person from sexual advances. The person below the minimum age is considered the victim, and their sex partner the offender, although some jurisdictions provide exceptions through " Romeo and Juliet laws" if both participants are underage. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim that the sexual activity was consensual, and such sexual activity may be considered child sexual abuse or statutory rape. The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts.
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