Age of Majority (Reduction) Act 1971 (SA)

South Australia Age of Majority (Reduction) Act 1971 An Act to reduce the age of majority; to confer upon persons who have attained the age of eighteen years the juristic competence and capacity of full age and to confer and impose the attendant rights, privileges, responsibilities and obligations; and for other purposes.

Contents 1 Short title 3 Removal of disability of infancy from persons over the age of eighteen years 4 Construction of Acts, regulations etc Legislative history

The Parliament of South Australia enacts as follows: 1—Short title This Act may be cited as the Age of Majority (Reduction) Act 1971. 3—Removal of disability of infancy from persons over the age of eighteen years (1) Subject to this section, a person of or above the age of eighteen years shall be sui juris and of full age and capacity, and notwithstanding any rule of law, no deficiency of juristic competence or capacity shall attach to, or be attributed to, any such person. (2) This section shall not affect any deficiency of juristic competence or capacity that is attributable to insanity or mental infirmity or any other factor distinct from age. (3) This section shall not affect the assessment or imposition of succession duty or any other rate, tax or impost. (4) This section shall not affect conditions of employment or rights or obligations arising from employment. (5) This section shall not invalidate or render defective any settlement or disposition of property or affect the operation of the rules by which the validity of such a settlement or disposition is determined. (6) This section shall not be construed as conferring any status necessary for the exercise of any electoral or voting rights in this State or the Commonwealth. (7) Where a beneficiary under a will or instrument of trust, who is sui juris, is by law entitled (either individually or in concert with other persons) to require the disposition of property subject to a trust before the time fixed under the provisions of the trust, that right shall be exercisable by a person who has not attained the age of twenty-one years only in respect of a will or instrument of trust that becomes operative after the commencement of this Act. (8) Where a person died intestate before the commencement of this Act, the administrator of the estate of the intestate shall not be obliged to distribute any portion of the estate to any person entitled to participate in the distribution before that person has attained the age of twenty-one years. (9) The majority of a person who is between the age of eighteen years and twenty-one years at the commencement of this Act, and who becomes sui juris by virtue of this Act, shall date from the commencement of this Act. 4—Construction of Acts, regulations etc (2) The provisions of any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that applies in this State shall be construed as if they were so far modified as is necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Act. (3) The provisions of any proclamation, regulation, by-law, rule or statutory instrument shall be construed as if they were so far modified as is necessary to give effect to the provisions of this Act. (4) The expressions "majority", "full age", "sui juris", "minor", "minority", "infant", "infancy", "nonage" and any other similar expressions in any Act, proclamation, regulation, by-law, rule or statutory instrument, whether passed, promulgated or made before or after the commencement of this Act, shall be construed, unless the contrary intention appears, in accordance with the provisions of this Act. (5) This section shall not affect the construction of— (a) any industrial award, order, determination or agreement; or (b) any instrument made or entered into pursuant to any Act that prescribes wages and other conditions of or relating to apprenticeship.