Competency before the Legal Puberty

Abstract

The comparative legislations include the issue of competency in general and the determination of the concept of the Minor and the legal adult in particular. In terms of determining the age of majority, competency and the minor, the Iraqi legislator was influenced by Islamic jurisprudence in organizing these issues on the basis of scientific, environmental, social and genetic standards. This diversity and differentiations of standards has been reflected in the laws of different States, where the age of majority in Iraqi civil law is 18 years and in the Egyptian civil law twenty-one full calendar years. This is the original version for which specific exceptions have been issued whereby the minor is considered to be fully qualified within a specific scope, otherwise s/he will be incompetent. The legislations also differ in determining the legal age of marriage, the extent to which marriage is permitted prior to the age of majority and the sequences resulting from such marriage, whether the minor who is permitted to marry competent or not, and the extent to which a minor is permitted to do business or, rather, to do certain legal and material acts, since cases in which a minor is considered to be an competent is an entire exception to the original legislation that must not be extended and need to make clear provisions.