The Gillick case holds that a child's capacity increases as they approach maturity or in other words, the authority of a parent decreases as their child's capacity increases. The significance of the proposed treatment will be a relevant factor in assessing whether a Minor has capacity to consent.
Generally, a child under the age of 18 years is assessed as being a 'mature minor' if they fully comprehend the nature, consequences and risks of the proposed action, irrespective of the presence or absence of parental consent.
For a child to be 'Gillick competent' he or she must have “sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to understand fully what is proposed” . This must be assessed on a case-by-case basis depending on the nature of the treatment proposed .
Dr Bird said under common law, patients under the age of 18 who are determined to be 'Gillick competent' or a 'mature minor' can consent to their own medical treatment.
Children under 18 cannot legally refuse to see a parent following divorce or separation. Children under 18 will be bound to the co-parenting arrangements made by their parents, set out in Consent Orders, and endorsed by the courts.
In order to do so, the child or young person must have a 'sufficient understanding and intelligence to enable him or her to fully understand what is proposed'. This is often referred to as 'Gillick competence' or the 'mature minor'.
About legal age in Australia
In Australia, you're considered to be an adult when you turn 18 years old. But for certain things, the legal age can be younger. The information in this article is general in nature, and laws differ from state to state.
The lowest age of consent is in Nigeria (11) followed by the Philippines and Angola (12). The age of consent is 13 in three countries – Niger, Comoros and Burkina Faso. The countries where the age of consent is 14 include a number of South American countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
This means that the general age of consent in Victoria is 16. Persons aged 18 or older can validly consent to sex with a person who is in a position of authority over them. In this context, the age of consent is 18. A person aged less than 12 cannot consent to sex with any other person.
Gillick competency applies mainly to medical advice but it is also used by practitioners in other settings. For example, if a child or young person: would like to have therapeutic support but doesn't want their parents or carers to know about it. is seeking confidential support for substance misuse.
When can I get contraception? There is no age limit preventing you from buying contraception like condoms at a chemist, or from seeing a doctor about contraception without parental consent. Certain medical contraceptives, such as contraceptive pills, require a prescription that you can only get from a doctor.
No. Youth of any age in both foster care and the juvenile justice system have the right to make their own decisions about whether or not to use birth control. If they choose to use birth control, they also have the right to choose what kind of birth control to use.
Article 12
States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
What Does The Law Say? Parents cannot just kick children out of their homes. The Family Law Act 1975 is very clear about this: parents have a responsibility to care for their children until they are considered adults.
Transition to adulthood is gradual
While a child becomes an adult at 18 in Australia, the legal age for certain things, like driving, can be younger and differ from state to state.
The lowest age of consent is 9 years for Maldives and 12 years for Angola, Mexico, Philippines, South Sudan and Sudan, which is the minimum age in the world. The age of consent in the United States varies from 16 to 18.
The age of consent in Japan has not changed since 1907, when the penal code was enacted. At that time, the average life expectancy of women was 44 years, and it was common for women to marry and have children at a young age. In society at that time, 13 was regarded as a reasonable age of consent.
If you are 16 years old and above, you can legally have sex (or do another sexual activity) with another person who is 16 years or older as long as you both agree to it.
While in many circumstances it is perfectly legal for an adult to have consensual sexual contact or intercourse with a 16-year-old, there are some circumstances where it is not. Most often, it comes down to the nature of the relationship between the two individuals.
Similar age
If a person is less than two years older than a young person who is under the age of consent, it is not an offence to have sexual contact with them, provided they consent and are aged over 10. This is known as the Romeo and Juliet law. It has an equivalent in most Australian states and territories.
Age of criminal responsibility
In Australia, children under the age of 10 years cannot be charged with a criminal offence. If they are between 10 and 14 years old, the prosecution has to show that they knew what they were doing was seriously wrong for a case to continue.
In the United States as of 1971, minor is generally legally defined as a person under the age of 18. However, in the context of alcohol or gambling laws, people under the age of 21 may also sometimes be referred to as minors. However, not all minors are considered juveniles in terms of criminal responsibility.
While an adult is usually a person over 18 (or in some cases, over 21), juvenile refers to persons under the age of 18 years. Therefore, 'juvenile' and 'minor' are two different terms, an important detail in criminal cases. Some cases deal with 'adults' and 'minors,' and others deal with 'juveniles' and 'adults.
Most countries set the age of majority at 18, but some jurisdictions have a higher age and others lower.