Your Rights - Age and the law

Outside the Law

Age and the Law

What is legal:

Age 13

  • Work part-time (but only in certain jobs and for limited hours)
  • Be found guilty of rape or other sex offences

Age 14

  • Have an air rifle or pistol
  • Drive a tractor on farmland
  • Go into a pub (but you can’t buy or drink alcohol)
  • Be found guilty of any crime (though the court system is different)

Age 15

  • See a 15-rated film
  • Be sent to a Young Offenders Institution

Age 16

  • Leave school and work full-time (after the official school leaving date) except in a bar, an off-licence or a betting shop
  • Leave home and get married (with your parents agreement)
  • Have sex
  • Drink beer and wine with a meal
  • Buy lottery tickets, scratchcards and Premium Bonds
  • Become a street-trader
  • Drive a moped, an invalid carriage and some tractors and fly solo in a glider
  • Get a National Insurance number
  • Apply for Legal Help, advice and assistance

Age 17

  • Drive a motorcycle, car, van or tractor on the road
  • Fly a plane and apply for a helicopter pilot’s licence
  • Be tried for a crime like an adult
  • Be interviewed by the police with no adults present

Age 18

  • Vote
  • Marry (without your parent’s agreement)
  • Serve on a jury
  • Make a will
  • Buy and drink alcohol and work in a bar
  • Buy fireworks
  • Get a tattoo
  • Own land
  • Donate your body and blood to medical science (without your parent’s agreement)
  • Place a bet
  • Go into a sex shop
  • Enter into a binding contract
  • Change your name
  • See an 18 film
  • Pawn things at a pawn shop
  • Buy cigarettes and tobacco

Age 21

  • Become an MP or local councillor
  • Run a pub
  • Drive a lorry or a bus

Last updated: December 10, 2007

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