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91 Tul. L. Rev. 55 (2016-2017)

handle is hein.journals/tulr91 and id is 65 raw text is: Adulthood in Law and Culture Vivian E. Hamilton* Young people today come of age in a cultural and economic milieu that prolongs their attainment of the taditional markers of adulthood Their subjective conceptions of the transidon to adulthood also depart radically from the trdditional conception, with its emphasis on discrete trdnsition events (including marriage and entry into the workforce) Lnstead the modem transition to adulthood is a gradual process compnsig the acquisition of general capabilities, mther than the achievement of externally constructed events. The state-established age of legal majority stands in marked contrast to this gradual and prolonged process. Not only does it categoricaly establish the inception of adult status, but states in the mid-twentieth century adopted laws lowering statewide ages of majority from twenty-one to eighteen. Seting legal adulthood at eighteen fails to accord with the trajectory of individual development, the time needed to acquire the skills and education demanded of individuals i the modern labor market and even the social experiences ofyoung people coming of age In modern America In other words, the legal construction ofadulthood is starkly at odds with its social and cultural constructions. Moreover, we now understand that young people reliably attai different capacities at distinct stages of development. Thus across a iange ofpolicynaking contexts, any categoncal rule will fail to take account either of context-specific capacities or deficiencies. The core commitments of the liberal demociatic state, howevei require it to extend to mdividuals those ights which they have attained the capacity to exercise-in other words, to rcognize and account for context-specific capacities. An ever-growing number of exceptions to the age ofmajority confinms its diminishing utility as a presumptive marker of adult capacity Abandoning altogether the presumptive age of legal majoity in favor of context-specific rules advances the state s liberal ends and better ahgns the legal and socio-cultural constructions of adulthood The developmental and bdhavioral sciences can and should supplement more traditional policymaking considerations. Finally existing law already n&e with exceptions to the age of majority demonstrates that context-specific decision making inposes no undue burden on lawmakers. I. INTRODUCTION. ............................. ......... 57 II. THE LEGALLY CONSTRUCTED STATUS OF ADULTHOOD..........61 A. The Age ofMajozity: A BriefHistory.......................63 B. Legal Effects ofMajoity: An Overview...................66 1. Disentitlement to Parental and/or State Support........66 2. Freedom from Parental Authority .... .............68 3. Contract Rights ................ ........ 70 4. The Right to Full Labor Market Participation........73 5. The Right to Political and Civic Participation........74 * 0 2016 Vivian E. Hamilton. Cabell Research Professor of Law, William & Mary School of Law. B.A. Yale College, J.D. Harvard Law School. For helpful comments on earlier drafts, I am grateful to James Dwyer, Rebecca Green, and Elizabeth Scott. For their excellent research assistance, I am grateful to Brandi Smith, James Young, and John Tyler Carver. 55

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