Legislation

Infants Relief Act 1874

This brief Act made contracts entered into by infants unenforceable.

The text of the Infants Relief Act 1874 was prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 17 October 2019.


Infants Relief Act 1874

© Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland.


[page 1]

VICTORIA

Infants Relief Act 1874

1874 CHAPTER 62

An Act to amend the Law as to the Contracts of Infants. [7th August 1874.]

WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the law as to the contracts of infants, and as to the ratification made by persons of full age of contracts made by them during infancy, and as to necessaries:

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1 Contracts by infants, except for necessaries, to be void

All contracts, whether by specialty or by simple contract, henceforth entered into by infants for the repayment of money lent or to be lent, or for goods supplied or to be supplied (other than contracts for necessaries), and all accounts stated with infants, shall be absolutely void: Provided always, that this enactment shall not invalidate any contract into which an infant may, by any existing or future statute, or by the rules of common law or equity, enter, except such as now by law are voidable.

2 No action to be brought on ratificatlon of infant's contract

No action shall be brought whereby to charge any person upon any promise made after full age to pay any debt contracted during infancy, or upon any ratification made after full age of any promise or contract made during infancy, whether there shall or shall not be any new consideration for such promise or ratification after full age.

3 Short title

This Act may be cited as The Infants Relief Act 1874.