On April 15th, 1969, the following motion was proposed in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Alberta:

“Whereas great changes are taking place in the lives of young people.

Now therefore this Legislative Assembly request the government to give consideration to-enacting a Youth Act which will set the age of 19 as the age of majority and set out the basis for the contractual liability of young adults.”

Although the motion was defeated, the Attorney General on May 21st requested that this Institute look into the subject-matter of the motion. The view of the Institute was that research should be conducted in two directions. First, an examination should be made of the law of Alberta, both statutory and judge-made, in order to ascertain the legal implications of reducing the age of majority, and reform trends in Canada and elsewhere should be reviewed. Secondly, the law relating to infants’ contracts should be examined and recommendations made for reforming that law so that it may more closely accord with contemporary social and economic conditions.

In this Report the Institute seeks to achieve its first objective, at the same time emphasizing that it is not in a position to make any specific recommendation as to what should be the age of majority, because this is essentially a question of social policy on which this body possesses no special competence to advise. The examination of the law relating to infants’ contracts is in progress, and recommendations for reform will be made in a later Report. It will, of course, be appreciated that if and insofar as the age of majority is reduced from twenty-one years the practical significance of the law relating to infants’ contracts will be diminished.