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adult |
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A person who by virtue of attaining a certain age, generally eighteen, is regarded in the eyes of the law as being able to manage his or her own affairs. The age specified by law, called the legal age of majority, indicates that a person acquires full legal capacity to be bound by various documents, such as contracts and deeds, that he or she makes with others and to commit other legal acts such as voting in elections and entering marriage. The age at which a person becomes an adult varies from state to state and often varies within a state, depending upon the nature of the action taken by the person. Thus, a person wishing to obtain a license to operate a motor vehicle may be considered an adult at age sixteen, but may not reach adulthood until age eighteen for purposes of marriage, or age twenty-one for purposes of purchasing intoxicating liquors. Anyone who has not reached the age of adulthood is legally considered an infant. adult noun adultus, elder, fully developed person, fully grown person, grown-up person, mature person, one who has attained legal majority, person of age, person of voting age, pubes, senior Associated concepts: adult male, adult person, adult woman, age of majority See also: ripe ADULT, in the civil law. An infant who, if a boy, has attained his full age of fourteen years, and if a girl, her full age of twelve. Domat, Liv. Prel. t. 2, s. 2, n. 8. In the common law an adult is considered one of full age. 1 Swanst. R. 553. How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content. |
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Any attempt to produce a genetically identical human individual by nuclear substitution from a human adult or child cell ('reproductive cloning') should be prohibited"; this conclusion is reached in light of the considerations of instrumentalization and eugenics which render cloning ethically unacceptable, as well as potential safety considerations. The authors believe these results describe the highest increase in death rates for arsenic-related lung cancer and bronchiectasis ever documented among young adults, and add that this study is one of the first to provide evidence of human adult disease resulting from prenatal and early childhood exposure to any environmental toxicant. While most of City of Hope's stem cell research over the past 30 years has concentrated on human adult and non-human fetal cells, the hospital has begun studies utilizing both older federally approved human embryonic stem cell lines as well as new lines. |
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