INFANT

infant,n.1. A newborn baby. 2.MINOR(1).

“An infant in the eyes of the law is a person under the age of twenty-one years, and at that period (which is the same in the French and generally in the American law) he or she is said to attain majority; and for his torts and crimes an infant may be liable; but for his contracts, as a general rule, he is not liable, unless the contract is for necessaries.” John Indermaur, Principles of the Common Law 195 (Edmund H. Bennett ed., 1st Am. ed. 1878).

“[I]nfant — the one technical word that we have as a contrast for the person of full age — stands equally well for the new-born babe and the youth who is in his twenty-first year.” 2 Frederick Pollock & Frederic William Maitland, History of English Law Before the Time of Edward I 439 (2d ed. 1899).

“The common-law rule provided that a person was an infant until he reached the age of twenty-one. The rule continues at the present time, though by statute in some jurisdictions the age may be lower.” John Edward Murray Jr., Murray on Contracts § 12, at 18 (2d ed. 1974).

[Blacks Law 8th]