Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery

> "*Dear Mr Potter,
>  We have received intelligence that you performed the Patronus Charm at twenty-three minutes past nine this evening in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a Muggle.*"
> ― Mafalda Hopkirk's letter adressed to Harry Potter on 2 August, 1995[source]
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The **Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery** is a bylaw of the Ministry of Magic, written in 1875, which bans the use of underage magic outside of school.

The Decree is enforced by the Improper Use of Magic Office in the Ministry of Magic. The restriction is for wizards and witches who are under the age of seventeen, upon which The Trace still operates. Even so, the Ministry does recognise that they may have to use magic in certain situations such as self-defence in a life-threatening situation.

In addition, young children below school age, or children who are not in possession of a wand, are mostly exempt from the rule since they usually have little or no control over the magic they perform. Overall, it appears the Ministry of Magic generally limits enforcement of the decree to situations where underage wizards perform magic in front of Muggles.

## Known contents

> "*In the matter of Harry Potter, the law clearly states that magic can be used before Muggles in life-threatening situations.*"
> ― Albus Dumbledore at Harry Potter's hearing[source]
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Paragraph C of the clause states that it is a crime to knowingly perform magic in a Muggle-inhabited area and in the presence of a Muggle. However, Clause 7 also states that magic can be used in front of Muggles in exceptional circumstances, including situations when the life of the witch or wizard using the spell, or the lives of other witches, wizards and Muggles are threatened.

It seems that a high-authority person may give permission for an underage student to perform magic under circumstances; as Hogwarts Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore gave Harry Potter such an instruction if an attack was to eventuate, when he was 16 years old. Also, if an underage student unintentionally performed magic out of emotional stress, the Ministry may consider this to be accidental magic, and not punish said student, as Dumbledore noted that even the best of adult wizards cannot always control their emotions, and Fudge did somewhat take this into account when he spoke to Harry about it.

The use of objects already enchanted by someone else does not count as a violation, as stated by Ronald Weasley, at that time aged 12, when he and his brothers Fred and George, aged 14, used their father's flying Ford Anglia during the summer holidays.

## Known breaches

**Ron Weasley**: "*We can fly the car to Hogwarts!*"
**Harry Potter**: "*But I thought –*"
**Ron Weasley**: "*‘We’re stuck, right? And we’ve got to get to school, haven’t we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it’s a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy ...’*"
— Harry Potter and Ron Weasley while stuck at the barrier to Platform 9¾[src]

### Undetected/Ignored breaches

* Harry Potter performed the Wand-Lighting Charm shortly after his illegal usage of the Patronus Charm and letter, it did not add to his offence.
* Tom Riddle, at age 16 during his summer vacation, used the Stunning Spell to incapacitate his maternal uncle, and then took his wand for multitude of uses: the Unlocking Charm to break into the Riddle House, the Killing Curse to murder his paternal family, and then to implant a false memory into his uncle to frame him. The Ministry never even took Tom into account for the multiple breaches, let alone the crimes, as his uncle was in the vicinity, who instead became the suspect for every magic performed.
* Bellatrix Lestrange trained her nephew Draco Malfoy in various fields of magic, which would most likely require Draco himself to use magic, during his summer vacation at age 16. Due to Draco being raised in a magical household, with both his mother and aunt being adult witches (albeit the latter being a wanted criminal), Draco's breaches could not be detected.
* When Harry Potter was caught in the Battle of the Seven Potters, he used several spells to retaliate against the Death Eaters, such as the Disarming and Mending Charms. The Ministry ignored this breach due to wanting to keep the Azkaban breakout a secret. However, this may be because the Ministry was currently assisting Harry Potter, and recognised that they were in a life-threatening situation, as well as the fact that the Ministry was not *completely* under Voldemort's regime at the time.
* Before Sirius Black defected from his family at age 16, he used the Permanent Sticking Charm to stick some muggle pictures of girls in his room. His breach was not detected due to his household being a magical family.