Ch. 651                             MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                                1303

years in all areas, except relating to alcoholic beverages, and except relating to
juvenile court jurisdiction, and except relating to special provisions regarding
Federal aid to families with dependent children, and special provisions regarding
Federal aid to families with dependent children, and special provisions regarding
Federal and State aid to families with dependent children -- foster care, and
providing clarifying language regarding these special aid provisions, and
generally related to a comprehensive lowering of the age of majority from 21 to
18 years of age in common law and in the enumerated sections and articles of
the Annotated Code of Maryland.

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That new Section 21 be and it is hereby added to Article 1 of the
Annotated Code of Maryland (1968 Replacement Volume), title "Rules of
Interpretation," to follow immediately after Section 20 thereof, and to read as
follows:

21.

(A)     EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE SPECIFICALLY PROVIDED BY
STATUTE, A PERSON EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE OR MORE IS AN
ADULT FOR ALL PURPOSES WHATSOEVER AND HAS THE SAME
LEGAL CAPACITY, RIGHTS, POWERS, PRIVILEGES, DUTIES,
LIABILITIES, AND RESPONSIBILITIES AS PRIOR TO JULY 1, 1973,
PERSONS HAD AT TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE, AND THE "AGE OF
MAJORITY" IS HEREBY DECLARED TO BE EIGHTEEN YEARS.

(B)   (1) THE TERMS "ADULT", "OF FULL AGE", OR "OF LEGAL
AGE" REFER TO PERSONS WHO HAVE ATTAINED THE AGE OF
EIGHTEEN YEARS.

(2) THE TERM "MINOR", AS IT PERTAINS TO LEGAL AGE AND
CAPACITY, REFERS TO PERSONS WHO HAVE NOT ATTAINED THE
AGE OF EIGHTEEN YEARS.

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Section 5 of Article
10 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1968 Replacement Volume), title
"Attorneys At Law and Attorneys In Fact," be and it; is hereby repealed and
re-enacted, with amendments, to read as follows:

5.

All persons, graduates of a recognized law school and possessing all other
qualifications which are now or may hereafter be prescribed by law, shall be
eligible to take the examination provided for in this article at the regular
examination of the Examining Board, held at any time following his graduation,
even though he be less than [twenty-one] EIGHTEEN years of age; provided,
however, that no such person shall receive his certificate of admission to the bar of
this State, nor be qualified nor permitted to perform any of the duties of an
attorney at law as provided by this article until he shall have arrived at the age of
[twenty-one] EIGHTEEN.

SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That Sections 57, 100 and
149 of Article 11 of the Annotated Code of Maryland (1968 Replacement
Volume), title "Banks and Trust Companies," be and they are hereby repealed and
re-enacted, with amendments, and all to read as follows: