From: Michael Schwartz (mschwartz@mindspring.com)
Date: Thu 04 Apr 2002 - 23:55:08 EEST
Bryan Thexton wrote:
>I recall from my wife's medeival law studies
>that... a child was an "infant" with no legal
>rights until age of 7, but after that age was
>considered to have some concept of right and
>wrong and limited ability to give testimony...
This is true, and roughly corresponds to the age at which a child would assume a small share of household responsilities in the culture. In western feudal cultures, 7 was the age when a child would routinely become a page.
>This would seem to be a natural division with
>[Heortlings] especially when first initiation
>happens generally at 14 or later.
I agree, and think the younger/older distinction is enough. We have three tiers of adulthood after all, and younger/older/tweenager (until we find a new term) covers children.
-- Michael Richard Schwartz | Language is my playground, mschwartz@mindspring.com | and words, its slides and Ann Arbor, Michigan USA | swingsets. -- yours truly
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