AGE 



thnt he was rloVi capax, and could difcern between good and 

 evil, he may be coiivifted and ruffcr death. Thus, ;i jriil 

 of 13 has been burnt for killing her miftrcls ; and one boy 

 of ten, and another of nine years of age, who had killed 

 their companions, have been fentenced to death, and the 

 boy of ten years of ajre was aftually hammed ; beeanfe it 

 appeared upon their trial, that the one hid hinifelf, and the 

 other hid the body of the perfon he had killed. An iu- 

 ftaiice occurred in the 17th century (/f a boy eight years 

 old, who was tried for firing two barns ; and it appearing 

 that he had malice and cunning, he was found guilty, con- 

 demned and hanged. In later times a boy, ten years old, 

 was convicted on his own confeflion of murdering his bed- 

 fellow, and by the unanimous opinion of all tlie judges 

 capitally puiiilhed. In fuch cafes, however, the evidence 

 of that malice, which is to fupply age, ought to be clear 

 and ftrong beyond all doubt and contradiftion. 



The age of 24 years enabled a man to enter into an or- 

 der of religion, without confent of parents, anno 4 Hen. 

 IV. cap. 17. At 24, he maybe ordained a priell ; and at 

 30, he may be a bilhop. No perfon can be a member of 

 parliament under the age of 21 years. Though the age of 

 21 is the full age of either man or woman, yet they may 

 under that age contraft for neceflaries fuitable to their 

 quality and proper inllruftion, and the contraft fliall bind 

 them. An infant, who has an advowfon, may prtfent to 

 the benefice when it becomes void. He may alfo purchafe 

 lands, though the purchafe be incomplete ; and when he is 

 of age, he may agree or difagree to it, without affigning 

 any reafon ; and fo may his heirs after him, if he Ihould 

 die before the completion of the agreement. In fome cafes, 

 he may bind hinifelf apprentice, by indenture, for feven 

 years, j Eliz. c. 4. — 43 Eliz. c. 2. and he may, by deed 

 or will, appoint a guardian to his children, if he has any. 

 12 Car. II. c. 24. If either man or woman do auy acl: 

 before the time prefcribed by law, they may retracl it 

 when they come to the proper age ; but if they do not, 

 they are fuppoied to ratify it, and it Ihall be deemed valid. 

 Thus, if a man marry before fourteen, or a woman before 

 twelve, they may either agree or difagree to the marriage, 

 when they attain thofe rei'peftive ages. See Marriage. 

 But the age of marriage has undergone divers modifications: 

 in princes, it is iJlowed earlier than in private perfons ; in 

 fome countries than in others. In Perfia, girls are mar- 

 ried at nine, boys only at thirteen : in Holland, males are 

 not allowed to marry without confent of parents or cu- 

 rators, before twenty-five ; girls not before twenty : the 

 Romans chofe to marry their wives young, for the ad- 

 vantage of having them innocent and tradable. Others 

 declaim againth premature marriages. Some have pre- 

 tended to fimit the other extreme of marriageable age to 

 forty-five ; but this too will be variable in diflerent 

 conltitutioiis. We meet with inftances of generation from 

 Co to 104, or even 121 years of age. Plott. Nat. Hift. 

 Staff, chap. viii. § 3. 



Various metliods have been in ufe for determining this 

 age. One fett of ancient Roman lawyers, called Caffiani, 

 fixed it by the Hate of the body, which Jullinian and 

 others after him, fuppofe to have been done by fcarch, or 

 infpeftion of the genital parts, at leall in the male fex ; for 

 as to the female, it is pretended the twelfth year was the 

 only guide, though others alledge that the eruption of the 

 nienfes ferved inltead of it. The Proculiani, on the con- 

 trary, determined the puberty of males by the expiration 

 of the fourteenth year. Javolenus took a middle courfe, 

 and made ufe of both methods. 



The Canon or EcclefiaJUcal Law alfo denotes divers ages, 



AGE 



viz. of baptifm ; of ordination to pricfthood, and confir- 

 mation to epifcopacy. 



The Civil I.aiv diftinguinied the age cf minors, or thofe 

 under 2; years old, into three tlages : iiifiinliti, from the birth 

 till feven yeai-sof age ; /•neriliii, from feven to 14; and fuier- 

 l,is, from foiuteen upward.s. The period oi piicrilia, was 

 again fubdivided into ,rl,u injhnlij prnxiimi, from feven 

 years to 10!, and rtlns /uderliili />roximn, Irom loj to 14 

 years. During the firit Itage of infancy, and the next halt" 

 Rage of childhood, iiifimti.e pnxima, they were not punidj- 

 able for any crime. During the other half ilage of child- 

 hood, aiiproachiiig to puberty, from lo* to 14, they were 

 indeed puniihable, if found to be t/o/i in/xices, or capable of 

 mifchief ; but with many mitigations, and not with the ut- 

 nioil rigour of the law. ' Diuing the lall ftnge (at the age 

 of pubertv, and upwards) minors were liable to be punifiied, 

 as well cajiitally, as otherwife. Dlackll. Com. vol. i. 463. 

 vol. iv. 22. 



Agf. pritr, alatem precat-i, a petition, or motion made in 

 court, by one in his minority, having an action brought 

 againll him for lands coming to him by defcent ; requeilmg 

 that the action may rell till he come to full age. — This the 

 court, in moii cafes, ought to grant. — But minors, as pur- 

 chafers, (hall not have it : nor intent of affile, dower, or parti- 

 tion ; though they may in debt. Hob. 342. 1). Air. 259. 



It is othenvife in the Civil Law, which obliges childreo 

 in their minority to anfwer to their tutors or curators. 

 See Parol Demurrer. 



AGEA, in Gtoxrap/jy, a town of Irak, in Perfia, 35 

 leagues ealt of Ifpahan. 



AGED oflhe mounlain, is a title, or denomination, give« 

 to the chief, or prince, of the people called assassins. 



AGEDA, in Geo^^rciphy, the name of a plain about 30 

 leagues from Buda iu Hungary, on which was held a ge- 

 neral alTembly of the Jewilh Rabbies, A. D. 1650, in 

 order to examine and debate the quellion, whether the 

 Mefiiah was come. Three hundred Rabbies, with a great 

 multitude of other Jews, from different nations, were col- 

 lefted together on this occafion ; and R. Zachariah, of the 

 tribe of Levi, v/as chofen their pvelident and Ipeaker. The 

 negative of the quellion was carried by a majority of voices, 

 and it was agreed that the advent of the Melliah was delayed 

 on account of their fins and impenitence. They alfo agreed, 

 after fomt debate, in the circumllances that would attend 

 his appearance : and they were of opinion, that he would 

 appear as a great conqueror, and deliver tliem from every 

 foreign yoke — that he would alter nothing in the Moiaic 

 religion — and that he was to be born of a virgin ; and that 

 his miraculous birth was to be a charafteriific, by which he 

 fhould be known to thofe who were ilrangers to the cove- 

 nant. Some ecclefiailics, deputed from Rome, attended 

 this meeting ; ar.d when they began to extol the worlhip, 

 ceremonies and authority of their church, they excited a 

 tumidtuous outcry of " no Clirift ! no God-man ! no iii- 

 tercefhon of Saints ! no worfhip of images ! no prayers to 

 the Virgin" ! accompanied with loud clamours, rending of 

 clothes," &c. and thus the conference of that day teimi. 

 iiated. On the 8tli day, they agreed to hold another coun- 

 cil, three years after this, in Syria. Some of the Jewilh 

 doftors are faid to have hcfitated in their opinion, and ex- 

 prefTed a defire of converfing with protellant divines ; but 

 the interference of fo many monks deterl-ed them, and made 

 them fear fome tragical conclufion to their affembly. Brett's 

 Narrative in the Phoenix, torn. ii. p. 554. 



AGEDAMA, a fmall ifland on the coaft of Canr.aniai 

 AGEDINCUM, Sim, a town of Gaul, the capital of 

 the Senoues. See Agendicum. 



AGEEG, 



