Gainesville daily sun. (Gainesville, Fla.) 190?-1938, 1906-08-12
WHEN is A MAN 21f
EhIak n Moment Before You AttemDt
60 Answer the Question.

at IL often said that law Is applied
common sense" said professor OF tho
Yale Law school the othcrday. while
II is true that law principles originated
In common sensr tie Ew itself Is the
combined experience OF many men, for
no two men uuu~tvucled In law will
agree as to what IS applied common
sense.
"'fhen. there are many rules OF law
which undoubtedly have Il common
sense origin hut. conditions having
changed history fails to disclose this
origin. Yet these very rules must he
retained In order not 10 shake personal
AMI property rights Therefore no man
can depend on his own uninstructed
common sense 20 know the law.
ITO drive this statement home have
frequently put 10 an incoming law
class the question. When does an III
FAINT become Of agcT The answer Is
always unanimous, When he II TWEEN
ty-One years old
1.-THE next question appears ridicu-
lous % some aud makes them laugh
while others set their alleged common
sense mt work aud never with correct
result, when Is man twenty-one
years oldr
zone, student says. on his twenty.
first birthday but of course he does
not mean II. for he " about year out
OF the way. Another ventures on the
twenty. anniversary OF his birth
day This sounds better, but even II
correct il not specific enough. When
he has completed his twenty.iirst ami.
versary.' AT the beginning Of that day
and 'On his twenty.hrSt anniversary,
at the precise hour Of his birth are
other answers
"And then | surprise the gllessers by
saying that they are all wrong
"In computing time ii " a general
rule that the law disregards part Of n
day. IN applying this rule, suppose a
man was born just one minute before
midnight on Jan =, 1880
at midnight hc had lived but one
minute. yet Tho day on which he was
born was ended and the law cOnsid.
cred him one day old So IN computing
the twcnty.onc years which u man
must live In ORDER 10 reach his mnjOri'
" we do not begin with the moment Of
birth, hut with the commencement Of
the day ~ his birth
Now. since we must start with the
lrst moment ~ Jan .. 1880 II Is per.
hnps natural a. say that this man did
not bccome twcnty-onc years old until
the close OF Jan /, 1901 Mathcmatic.
ally speaking, this Is true.
Twenty one ycHrs IN that sense re-
qulrcs that the last moment OF Jan. /,
1901, should have arrived In order to
make the man ~ age AMI obviously
be- was ~ age 1T that point of time.
But here AKA IN the rule is applied
as the man was ~ axe on the last
moment ~ Jan I. the law disregnrds
the entire part ~ the day intervening
between the hrSt moment and the last.
nud consequently he became IN law
twcnty.ouc years old on the first mo-
mcut ~ Ian I. 1901, the day preceding
the twenty lirst anniversary ~ his
birthday
This rule IL u part IT what II known
nS the common law and Is applied IN
this country In all states where the
common law ~ England has been
adopted AMI remains unchanged by
statute \ man may vote or ,nukc II
valid will "u the day preceding the
twenty Grst anniversary ~ his birth
day, although The right IN The one case
nnd the capacity Ia The othrr are given
only ~ prr,1us who have reached the
age ~ twcrly-one years" New York