The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1906-09-10
WHEN IS A MAN CIR

b.htnlr : 1FonnsnG before Toa AttenDa
20 Answer the Question.
at is often said that law Is applied
comnon sense said professor of tho
Yale Law school the other day. while
& Il true that law principles originated
IN common sense, the law itself e the
combined experience of many men, for
no two men unInstructed in law VIII
agree as to what Is applied common
sense.
.srhen there are many rules OF law
which undoubtedly have a common
sense origin, but. conditions having
changed. history fails to disclose this
origin. Yet these very rules must be
retained in order not to shake personal
and property rights. Therefore no man
can depend ON his own uninsructed
common sense to know the law.
'sTo drive this statement home I have
frequently put to an incoming law
class the question. When does an In
FAINT become of age? The answer Is
always unanimous, when he is TWEEN
ty-Oue years old
1.-THE next question appears rtdicu.
lous to some and makes them laugh,
while others set their alleged common
sense at work and never with correct
result, EWhen is man twenty-one
years old?
zone student says, 'on his twenty
first birthday but of course he does
not mean it, for he IS about year out
of the way. Another ventures, 'on the
twenty-frst anniversary of his birth
day. This sounds better, but even Is
correct is not specific enough. 'yVher.
he has completed his twenty-i1rst ami
yersnry,' AT the beginning OF that day
and sOn his twenty first anniversary.
at the precise hour OF his BIRTH are
other answers.N
'.And then 1 surprise the guessers by
saying that they are all wrong.
''1n computing time It Is general
rule that the law dEsreEards part OF q
day In applying this rule, suppose q
man was born just one minute before
midnight on jan. ., 1880.
eat midnight he had lived but one
minute. yet the day on which he was
born was ended and the law consid-
cred him one day old. So in computing
the twenty-one years which man
must live in order to reach his maJort-
ty we do not begin with the Juoment of
birth, but with the commencement OF
the day of his birth.
Now, since we must start with the
first moment OF Jan. ., 1880, it IS per-
haps natural to say that this man did
not become tventy-one years Did until
the close Of Jan. /, 1901. ematic-
oily speaking, this is tru-.
''Twenty-one years in that s nse re-
uulres that the last moment OF Jan. 1,
1901 should have arrived in order to
make the man of age, and obviously
he was of age at that point OF time.
Buthere again the rule is applied.
LAS the man was of age on the last
moment of Jan /. the law disregards
the entire part of the day Intervening
between the first moment and the last.
and consequently he became in law
twenty-one years old on the hrst mo
ment OF Jan. /. 1901. the day preceding
the twenty-Hrst Anniversary OF his
birthday.
'sThis rule Is part OF what II known
as the common law and Is applied II
this country In nil states where the
common law of England has been
adopted and remains unchanged By
statute. man may vote or make q
valid viii on the day preceding the
twenty-Hrst anniversary of his birth
day. although the right in the one case
and the capacity In the other are given
only to persons who have reached the
age Of twenty years."-New York
Sun